There was Fire
by AllaceRose
Summary: Max is a shifter. She can turn into a hawk at her will. But shifters are disappearing and it's Queen Marian that's hunting them. After the Queen destroys her family, there's nothing Max wouldn't do to kill her? But what happens when she meets Fang- the Queen's son- and discovers she's not the last shifter left? AU, T for minor swearing, violence, FAX.
1. Prologue

_Prologue- History of Two Worlds_

Once upon a time, we were everything.

We were great and powerful. Our armies and weapons were the strongest and most tactful the world's ever seen. No one could stop us. Our cities and architecture were beautiful and glorious. We used to rule every inch of the globe. We defined beauty and strength.

We were the first everything. We invented writing and communication. We were the first to chart the moon, the sun, and the stars. We discovered medicines for our illnesses. We put history on paper. Art was as common among us as the air we breathed. Everything began with us.

Humans, our descendants, feared and worshipped us like gods. And those that hunted humans were labeled as monsters. They mimicked our temples. Our depictions spanned the walls of their tombs. They longed to be like us, half human, half animal and free to switch between both. We considered them filth. They were no more significant than the stones beneath the slow currents of a stream. They labored in our fields. They completed the tedious work. They were our slaves. We chose a few to interact with. Our favorites were remembered in history.

But after all these years, we were beginning to fade. We feuded among ourselves and seperated into clans. Our cities were left abandoned. Four rulers, the Cardinals, tried without success to keep the peace. We isolated from each other. We were dying.

And now, it was the Imperial Queen of those humans who hunted us, and our scarce protections faded. He sought us out in the forests and mountains and seas and tore our homes apart. This was a time of chaos, of death for our people, our furs and feathers and scales stained red with our own blood. The Queen pillaged our cities first and the bloodshed slowly leaked to our peasant villages. A million birds took to the skies and our paws thudded on the earth to escape the impending fall of us, the shifters.

And so, a war between our two worlds begins. And what's the prize?

Survival.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1- Slaughter

_Max_

There was fire. Its ribbons of red, scarlet, orange, yellow and white fluttered in the breeze giving the night an impromptu sun of sorts. I woke to the harsh smell of smoke in the air. It sank in my lungs, suffocating me. I felt its heat on my skin, casting a blistering glow.

"Angel! Mom?" I cried, frantically throwing the doors to their rooms open.

I looked around wildly and something crashes behind me. Cries went up in the night. They weren't there. I searched all through the house. They weren't there. Where was papa?

There was a cracking sound behind me. I turned in time to see a large post fall. I dodged and fell to the ground, my side hurting from the impact.

"Everyone, quickly, to the sky!" I heard the clan's chief squawk, already shifting into a hawk.

And to the sky we flew, or rather they flew. Fascination and horror overwhelmed me and my wings wouldn't come. I had never seen such a large fire before. There was fire in candles, but those were fleeting and small. There was fire in lamps and bonfires but those were contained. Where was mom and Angel? I saw my dad, trying to get through to me but every time he tried, the fire flared up, the sparks spraying centimeters from his wings. It was too late when papa yelled at me to concentrate and to get out of there.

I got up and started running towards the spring when a springing sound interrupted me. Arrows suddenly joined my clan in the sky and one by one, the hawks fell. I saw as papa as he tumbled down from the sky.

"Papa!" I screamed. His feathers snapped away from him, hanging in the air as he hurtled downwards, "No!"

I ran towards him, but he fell into the fire, and I stopped, sobbing.

The final sparks died as the sun shone over the horizon. The dawn's first light spread like golden warmth over the charred remains of the village. Our aeries were nothing but ashes. In the glowing sky, no one remained, and on the earth below, bodies stuck in half bird, half human form littered the ground. I saw papa, his gold beak and black and gray feathers still visible. But I couldn't find my mom and my sister.

The fire burned away all we had. The clothes I wore were darkened with ash and dirt. My shoes were burned through, revealing my muddy feet. I shook them off.

"Sir! There's still one left!" a strange human pointed at me. He wore iron and steel and I might've laughed at his clumsiness if the tone of the morning wasn't so dark.

I charged at him, throwing punches. I jumped into my hawk's skin and picked him up, lifting him high into the air before dropping him. He was long dead before his companions arrived. Their armor clinked as they ran towards me and their dead friend. They aimed their bows and arrows at me and I prepared myself to fight.

One to ten odds? Definitely in my favor.

Another man appeared. He was fatter than the rest but the others gave him respect. I understood he was their leader. I bare my teeth.

"No," he holds up a metal-clad hand, "We keep this one. It's the last shifter left."

His cruel laughter made me clench my fist. I heart of the bloodshed in the north but never would have imagined that I was the last one left.

I slid out of my feathers to meet my captors with human eyes.

The soldiers caged me as if I was a criminal. The bars unnerved me. I switched through my forms rapidly until my human form had feathered hair and my hawk had arms and legs. I paced in the cage. It seemed like my nervousness was contagious because the guards' eyes flicked uneasy glances at me and then at each other. They talked rapidly in hushed tones.

They brought me into their city. Its high walls felt forbidding and unwelcoming. Its streets were filthy and littered with poverty. Everyone stopped to watch as I passed by. I snarl at them and they look away.

Three years ago, my dad and mom took me and Angel to a Cardinal city in the north. It was a beautiful city, no walls to enclose people in, and a fountain in the center poured water into four streams that ran through the streets. The entire city was clean, unlike this place. With a start, I realized that because there were no walls around the city, it was open to attack. And I realized that the city was destroyed.

I was brought before a large building of white stone surrounded by water. I didn't like this closed-in place. A bridge was lowered to allow me into the building and as the cart crossed it, I saw that the water was an inky polluted black. I recoiled in disgust.

Inside the fortress was another contained city. I looked up in despair to see the sky was blocked out by the windowless ceiling. The humans inside were deathly pale and fragile, their dress was finer than those who lived outside. The women wore gowns inlaid with jewels and the men wore multiple layers. They spoke about me quietly and the men were wide-eyed and surveyed my human body with interest. I hissed at one near me and decided to stay a hawk.

The narrow halls broke into a large room. The fat man who I saw before knelt before a garishly dressed woman on a high throne. There was a shorter but equally richly decorated chair to her right. She had high, sharp cheekbones and stern looking eyes. Wrinkles poorly hidden by powder could be seen. Her thin dull brown hair was covered by a thick wig. A golden crown rested on her head. Her maroon colored ball gown trailed off to the floor. Behind her was a wall of heads. And not just any heads, they were the heads of each clan chief. A vile taste in my mouth rose when I saw a group of people hanging up my clan chief's head being mounted.

"My queen," the fat man said, bowing low. I narrowed my eyes, so this was the queen I've heard so much about.

"Rise, Lord Gunther-Hagen," the Queen said impatiently, "Who is this you've brought back?"

"My queen," the fat man said, "She is the last shifter in existence. I thought her a nice addition to your zoo."

I jump to my feet, "I think not. _Lord Gunther-Hagen_," I say curtly, "_She_ can speak for herself."

The room hushes. The Queen casts her cold dark eyes to me, "Very well, speak, girl."

I spit, "No thanks, I'd rather not speak to those lower than me."

Anger flashes in her eyes, "Take her to the dungeons."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2-Never Caged for Long

Hi everybody! Yeah, I'm back. This used to be a story I wrote when I was in the fifth grade or something like that and I gave up so I go some new ideas and re-wrote it into a fan-fic. Thanks everybody who reviewed on the prologue and chapter 1. It means a lot to me, thanks for everything. So yeah, on with the story.

_Max_

At first, I was relieved the soldiers took me away before I could do anything remotely stupid. Then, I discovered they were leading me to a damp, dirty cell in the deepest part of the dungeon of the castle. My eyes were wide as I was tossed in. I hit the cement ungracefully; it felt like ice on my skin. I jumped to my feet. I shook the bars and pounded on the far wall, pacing back and forth in frustration.

Nobles, whose ranks allowed them to be here, appeared at the gate with torches in hand as I huddled in a corner. They leered at me with their ugly faces. I shuddered in disgust. They wouldn't leave until I charged the door in my half-mad state.

I lost all sense of time, the minutes and seconds passing by without warning. More than twice, I attempted to fly or kick down the door out of the cell. The only indicator of time passing was the guards who brought me my meals. Other than this kindness, he provoked me and gloated. I hated them all.

The days passed and I slowly lost my energy. I tried to fly or fight less frequently. I think they drugged me a few times. My movements were sluggish and lazy, I couldn't think straight. Odd hallucinations fluttered in front of my eyes.

One day in the span of my imprisonment, a boy appeared at my gate. This one I didn't recognize. He had black hair and endless dark eyes. He had olive skin, bright from sun. His pink lips were quirked in a hopeful smile. He dressed in a tunic and dress pants, hunting boots on his feet. He had lean toned muscles, probably from hunting. Unlike the others, he did not provoke my anger, did not taunt me. He just stood there, staring.

"I can help you," the boy said, his voice was cautious and soft but I didn't want to trust him.

"Why would you help me?" I murmured warily. I slowly stood to face him.

"I'm – I believe you're not what everyone says you are. Mother says you're all tyrants and heartless beasts but I don't think you are. You're innocent-looking," his stammering put me off guard for a while. So humans think shifters are all heartless beasts, huh?

"How could you help me?"

He dangled a brass key in front of the gate, "See?"

I bounded right up to the gate to caress the metal to my freedom. But when I got close to him, his face took on a dazed expression and I stepped back, remembering that my scent was intoxicating to humans, "How did you get this?"

"I'm the Queen's son," he answered with a straight face.

I jump back and hit the ground in a defensive crouch. The Queen's son? She imprisoned me in this cell and hunted my kind to almost extinction. And this was the son of my greatest enemy. I hated the Queen with all my heart. I studied him, this son of the Queen who wanted to free me. Maybe he wasn't like the Queen. They didn't look it either. While the Queen had sever features, he was a softly chiseled good-looking. While the Queen had thin, balding hair, he had tousled thick dark hair.

"Why would the son of the Queen help me?" I snarl, "Aren't I your greatest enemy?" I shrunk into the far corner so my anger wouldn't make me hurt him. I was completely out of my mind but not crazy enough to kill him. If I killed him, they would kill me.

Tentatively, he stepped closer so his cheeks were pressed against the metal, "You don't deserve to be trapped like this."

I wasn't well educated, my parents haven't taught me to read yet, but I'm not stupid. The son of the Queen wanted to free me. I could escape through him. I sauntered over to him and gave him my most winning smile. Almost gagging, I twirled a piece of my hair, I asked, "What's your name?"

He opened and closed his mouth twice like a guppy. Looks like we got an intelligent one here, I rolled my eyes. "Call me Fang," he finally stuttered out.

"Fang," I tried the name on my tongue. The Queen's son was named after a canine? Strange, "Fang, please, let me out."

Great, now I'm a pathetic looking pleading puppy.

He nods twice and moves to unlock the door. Humans, I wanted to laugh. This was too easy. One click and the door swung free. A giggle escaped my lips and then a symphony of laughter, "Fang, it's been great meeting you but I can't have you tagging along."

A confused look crosses his face. I slammed his body into the wall, his head struck a protruding ledge and he crumpled to the floor. Half running, half flying, I escaped the dungeon.

_Fang_

"Fang? Wake up, Fang!" Someone yelled frantically making my head pound.

I open my eyes slowly and groaned. My sister, actually five of her floated above me. I tried to sit up but a sharp pain in the back of my head made my skull throb. I winced and rubbed it. There was gauze covering it. How-?

Oh.

I pushed myself up off the bed and sat, feeling dizzy. My eyes finally focused on my sister, five Nudges turning into one.

"I'm okay."

I put my fingers to my head again where a lump was growing. It hurt when I touched it but I couldn't help but smile. A vision of a blonde-haired shifter crossed my mind.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Reunion

Thanks for all the compliments everyone but if you guys have any suggestions about my writing or if you find any errors just tell me. Always accepting constructive criticism, thanks! Anyways, on with the story. Oh and just a note to remember, Jeb wasn't Max's dad. So Jeb isn't dead yet. It's not going to matter right now but it will.

* * *

_Max_

It was the dead of night when I finally experienced fresh air. I was so happy I could cry. I took a deep breath in and yelled into the night. Signals rose up in alarm but by that time, I was long gone. Twirling and diving in the sky, I flew towards the north instinctively, towards the closest Cardinal City. Although it was blind of me to hope, I'm going to look for survivors.

I flew over my village, I could still see the bodies, half rotting lying there. I shivered mid-flight and spiraled downwards to pay my respects. Earth and ash darkened feathers lay among misshapen skeletons. I bow down and press my forehead to the ground.

There was a stirring sound behind me. Something snaps. I whirl around and see something drop onto the dirt.

I step closer to it to get a better view. Something moved overhead. I looked up. There was nothing.

There was a doll buried in the dirt. It had a head full of blond hair made from corn silk. It was stuffed with beans and had a dried wildflower for a mouth. Scraps of cloth made up its blue flower print dress. Its eyes are small stones. It was unmarred by the fire. I'd recognize it anywhere.

I whirled around, looking up.

"Angel?"

* * *

_Fang_

"Mother, why?" I stormed into her office.

She looked at me with stony eyes, "What are you talking about Nicholas?"

"You already killed her entire family, her entire race, why do you insist on hunting her down too?" I commanded.

"You don't know what you're talking about," she said dismissively. She turns her attention back to her papers.

I swipe them off her desk and look her in the eyes, "Stop looking for her. She's supposed to be free. What have they ever done to us?"

"They kill humans," she doesn't look up, already proclaiming without words her utter boredom with the topic and her decision, "They hunt people like you down. They're nothing but monsters. And look, the shifter girl already hurt you, and you still want to protect her?"

"No, she doesn't deserve this."

"Get out," she says darkly.

I leave but as I do, something flashy and silvery flies past me. I turn my head away but it catches my nose and right cheek. It leaves a trail of stinging pain. A knife sticks itself into the door. I put my hand to my cheek and see blood on my fingers.

"From this day forward, you're no longer my son."

* * *

_Max_

"Angel?" I call out again. I put my fingers to my mouth and whistle one long low note ending with two short high notes.

There's a flutter of feathers and then something lands behind me.

"Angel? Mom?"

They shift back into human form and run towards me disbelievingly. Angel hugs me around my waist and I kiss her blond hair.

"Max?" Mom hugs both me and Angel, "We thought you were dead!"

"Are you hurt? The night of the fire, how did you two escape? I was looking for you but I couldn't see you."

"Angel and I were hunting the night of the fire in the woods. I didn't know what happened until I saw the fire. We hid in the canopy to avoid being caught. Where have you been?"

I told her about the Queen's men who led me to the castle and imprisoned me but I didn't tell her about Fang. I just couldn't.

"Is your father there too?" Hope was so clear in her eyes and it broke my heart to tell her that we were the last ones left.

"Mom, um, dad, he- he-um," I take her by the arm and take her away, telling Angel to play with her doll.

"Mom, dad was- he was-he was shot during the fire by the Queen's soldiers."

Mom looked away from me and crumpled to the floor. I lunged for her before she fainted dead away.

"Mom!" I shook her, "Mom!" I turn to Angel, "Angel, help me carry her to the river!"

* * *

_Fang_

I ripped off my sleeve and cleaned my wound with water from a river. It stung but I grit my teeth against the pain.

"Fang! Hey!"

I closed my eyes in frustration. Why did he have to come after me?

"Iggy, go away!"

"Hey, I heard about you leaving so I had to see if it was true," Iggy tackles me.

"Get off," I shove him onto the ground.

"Ooh, nasty cut you have there," Iggy laughs, "Heard that the Queen disowned her favorite son, had to see if it was true. Come on, let's go hunting, like old times sake."

"No, we're going to go find the shifter," I tell him.

"Why?"

"Because we have to warn her."

_Max_

"Mom, wake up," I put the cold rag on her forehead, "Please wake up."

Angel was curled up next to me on the floor. The running water seemed so peaceful. There weren't any birds, the usual bustling of the village nearby wasn't there anymore. The silence seemed unnerving.

Mom's eyes fluttered open.

"Max?" she whispered weakly.

"Yeah, it's me Max. I'm here, so is Angel."

"But your father, Daniel," she starts to shed a tear.

"No, mom, please don't say anymore."

Angel looks at me, "Max, what are you talking about? What's mom talking about, what happened to daddy?"

"Angel, there are some things that you don't need to know yet, I'll tell you when you're older okay?"

"No, I can tell, daddy's dead already isn't he?" she starts sobbing. I look away across the river. Someone's there.

I take pick Mom up onto my back and tell Angel to be silent and we run back to the village. It's Fang and a pale weak-looking human. **A/N aha, Iggy.**

"Let's go to the North City okay?" I tell Mom and Angel.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- Saved

Sorry everybody I don't update all that frequently, I was just out of it for the past couple days. So yeah, read on.

* * *

_Max_

Angel cried even in her sleep. Her soft tear-stained red cheeks glistened in the soft light of the rising sun. Mom held her, both of them curled up together, their breathing was irregular. They hiccupped, disturbing their own dreams. I put a hand on mama's shoulder tentatively. They didn't sleep well; maybe I should let them rest.

But if I did, it would be more likely we'd be caught.

I kissed both of their foreheads and made a small fire. It was safe now that the sun was coming up. Mom and Angel moved instinctively closer to the fire for its warmth. I added a few more twigs and watched them, warming my own hands over the fire. Last night was a rough night. They refused to fall asleep and let me keep watch but I told them I'd wake them when I got tired. I never did.

I rubbed my eyes and went to the river for water to wash my face. I was exhausted but I could handle it. They couldn't. Mom and Angel were broken-hearted. I am too, but I had longer to cope with it. I carried the despair on my shoulders longer than they have; it was almost nothing but a heavy weight now. I wish I could carry it for them too. I have to be strong for them. They seemed so fragile in this state.

"Max?" Mom called out quietly as I came back. She was sitting up with Angel's head on her lap, "Where did you go?"

"I went to the river," I tell her truthfully. I take a seat next to her, curling my legs next to me. She felt ice cold.

"I was worried when I woke up and you weren't here."

"It's okay, mom," I soothed her, "I won't leave you two ever again."

Angel stirred in her sleep and her eyes fluttered open. Her eyes were still red from crying, "Mom? Max?"

"Yeah, we're here, sweetie," Mom says in a voice soft as a butterfly.

"I was thinking," I tell the both of them, "We should go north, to the Cardinal City. I was planning to go there before I found you two."

"Okay," Angel yawns.

"Mom?"

"Okay, sweetie," she combs a hand through my tangled hair.

"We can go after we hunt, okay?"

* * *

_Fang_

"What about your family, Fang?" Iggy yelled at me, "What about Nudge and Ella?"

I turned around and grabbed his collar, "Don't you dare bring them up," I hissed, "Don't you think I already thought about them? Don't you think I know how much my leaving hurt them?"

"You could've stayed. It doesn't matter that you're no longer the prince. You could've stayed in the city or- or-"

"Or what? You know she'd never forgive me. She'd hunt me down just like the shifters. You don't know her like me," I whirl back around, towards the charred village.

"So you'd choose that shifter over your family," Iggy says disgusted, "You barely know her."

"What if they're not like that? What if everything we know about them are all lies? Ella and Nudge will be fine," I put a hand on his shoulder wearily, "I'd feel better if you went to stay with them." Then I smirk, thinking about Iggy's secret, "I bet Ella will be happy to see you."

He rolled his eyes.

"So, are you staying or leaving?" I ask.

He took a breath and then grinned, "I'm staying."

* * *

_Max_

Dawn's first light was our signal to fly. We never flew so hard. Our goal was to find the ruins of a city. We camped out on trees and avoided all human villages until we came to the very city I had visited over three years ago. The artificial streams were polluted with the dead. I averted my eyes and I felt Angel clutch onto me as we passed them.

The entire city was rubble. Where there once was perfectly carved marble stone, was broken down, charred, and crumbled down to gravel. I looked down at it in despair. Ribbons of red ran through the streets. How long ago was this?

"Max," Angel says shakily.

"Come here," I sweep her up into my arms and hold Mom's hand, "It's okay, just close your eyes."

She buried her face into my side and closed her eyes, whimpering a little. I rub her back.

"What are we looking for?" Mom asks.

"Survivors," I tell them, "I'll look over there, you two look over there."

They look at me and then shift, flying over to the Residence Area. I fly off towards the Cardinal's Palace. There has to be someone there to help me. The sight made me hopeless. The entire second story was broken. Only some walls remained. But in courtyard of the Palace was a statue of the Cardinal I've never seen before below an old dead oak. An engraving at its base was, _for those in need, bring this statue to light_.

I went to get them, "I found something," I tell them.

They helped me bring the statue to the top of a barely standing tower in the city.

Suddenly a golden glow erupted from the stone. Shocked, I leapt back and fell from the tower. I waited for blinding pain but instead a mattress of the softest reddest feathers cushioned my fall and set me gently on the ground. I looked up in surprise and a tall majestic phoenix stood before me, his head encircled by a very familiar crown of markings.

I bowed low, "Your Grace." It was one of the Cardinals.

* * *

_Fang_

"What happened here?" Iggy says shocked. The entire village was charred. There were hawk feathers on the ground among rotten bodies and skeletons. My mind flashes to the shifter, with her glossy feathers in the night.

"This was her village," I said.

Iggy looks at me with sympathy. I look away. How did she survive this? It's unfair for me to think, but I think it would've been better off for her to have died then to live being hunted down.

"How do you plan on finding her?" Iggy asks.

"We're going to-" Oh. Well I didn't think of that. I pinched the bridge of my nose and exhaled, chuckling. He eyed me suspiciously.

"You don't have a plan to do," he growls, "Stupid."

"What was that?" I growl right back, pulling my fist back for a punch.

"Stupid," he says louder and blocks my punch, shoving me right back.

I tackle him to the ground and he kicks me off. I laugh. It felt like when we were younger, when we sparred in the training room.

"C'mon," I get up, "If we keep moving, we'll find her."


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5- Trackers and Berries

It's been a while; my life's a mess, lol. Everyone had a good Thanksgiving? Pshaw, that was like a week ago. Oh and I realized that I made a mistake in Chapter 1 so I went back and changed it. So the Queen's right hand man is now Gunther-Hagen instead of Jeb. You'll see why.

* * *

_Max_

I heard Mom and Angel come up behind me, both of them curtsying daintily.

"You may rise, my children," the Cardinal North intones in his sullen voice. The Cardinals were inherently powerful. Instead of two skins, they can change into any animal in existence or has ever been in existence. They wear a circlet of blue markings around their foreheads. The markings give them power. They rule us, they keep the peace. They possess strength unlike any other. There are four; there's always been four, one for each of the directions.

"Your Grace," I keep my head down as I rise, I feel Angel's tug at my sleeve. Mom seemed shocked to a silence, "Your Grace, our race is almost extinct."

Mother was still in a frenzied state when I brought the Cardinal to our makeshift camp. I explained that Mom was still grieving.

"Have you found other survivors, Your Grace?" I asked before we turned in for the night.

"No," I feared this answer. I could sense how this affected him. He was one of four rulers who ruled our people. Never has he been so alone and powerless and hurt. To escape the fire, he had explained, he turned to stone in wait of someone who read our language to free him.

He gave a humorless smile, that looked strange on his old weathered face, "That's enough of that Your Grace business, the time of the Shifters are over, I'm no longer deserving of that title, seeing as I failed to protect my own people."

"Then what should we call you?"

"Jeb," he sighs, "That was my name many many years ago."

* * *

_Fang_

"Fang, just turn back now. Think of your sisters. It's been weeks, we're never going to find her. She can't help us."

I ignored him and kept walking. Iggy touched a branch and then shook his head. I smirk.

"If you're all that good of a tracker, we would've found her already," I grumbled. He was the best tracker in the Queen's Army. We grew up with each other and trained together, both tools of my mother in our own special ways.

"You wound me," he says joking but not joking. It's his only pride, his only sense of accomplishment. He was abandoned by his parents. His skill is the only thing he lays claim to.

"So, where to now?"

He rolls his eyes, and pulls at something invisible at the base of a tree and holds it up to me; it's a strand of blond hair. "We're on the right trail. Chances are, she's looking for survivors. Which means she's on the move. Animals tend to-"

"She's not an animal, she's a human being too," I interrupt, not liking the direction of the conversation.

"But her animal instincts come first, you know how shifters are, the animal in them always come out," he continues, tracing the ground with a pale finger, "As I was saying, animals tend to travel in herds in times of crisis."

"She's a bird."

"A hawk, remember? They're solitary animals. This is where her human instinct comes in. Her attachment to family overpowers her hawk instinct."

Then her family's alive. She's not alone. Good, being alone is vulnerable. I look at where Iggy was rubbing dirt between his fingers. There were footsteps, a couple just the right size for the shifter. There were two other sets of footprints. Two people are traveling with her. That would make sense. If her entire race was wiped out, her eyes would've been dead, lifeless, but they weren't. They were still fiery and angry, still alive. She would've felt her family's not dead.

"Why way?"

* * *

_Max_

"Get up," Jeb's voice woke me from my dreamless sleep. I groaned, stretching, my back cracking a bit. I winced, "Get up."

"What is it?" I yawned.

"I'm teaching you how to fight."

"I can fight just fine," I grumble, lying back down, "Wake me up at a reasonable hour."

"It's eight o' clock, I was contemplating waking you up at seven but I decided you'd need more sleep."

I felt myself being dragged up and thrown to my feet. A breath of icy wind hits me and a shudder wracks through me, "Fine."

Then I see Mom and Angel sleeping peacefully (or at least as peacefully as they can these days) on the forest floor, "Why aren't they awake?"

"You're mother is emotionally incapable of taking care of both of you, you're sister is too young. Besides, if I teach you first, then you can teach them."

"My mom isn't as weak as you think."

"It doesn't matter, on your feet, wash up in the stream, meet me in the clearing in ten minutes, Max."

I spit, seeing the phlegm mixed with blood on dirt. I wipe me face, every part of me aching, "Again," I growl.

He flies at me again and I dodge just in time, but don't expect the blinding pain on the back of my skull. I fall forward almost and then catch myself, rolling out of the way before I got hit again. It didn't matter because I was flung against a tree, a vicious blow at my waist, making me tumble to the ground. I groan my arms and legs wobbling a little as I try to stand again.

"That'll be enough for now," he walks away, back to the camp, "Your family will be awake in a few moments."

I steady myself against a tree, until I pass out again from pain.

I woke up to a concerned Mom and Angel. The Cardinal was a little off to the side, mixing something in a make-shift birch bowl. I curl my lip in disgust.

"Max," Angel's sweet voice tentatively whispered, brushing aside a strand of my dirty hair, "You're awake."

"Yeah," I sit up, then immediately regretting it. "No thanks to Jeb," I say with much venom.

"Max! Is that how you speak to a Cardinal?"

I ignore that comment, rubbing the back of my head and flinching. The Cardinal comes over with the bowl, inside is a slimy red mixture maybe made from some sort of berry, "Put this on your wound."

I push it away dismissively, "No."

He dips two fingers in the bowl and slaps his hand to my skull. There's a little stinging ache and then a numbingly tingly feeling. Then I can't feel it anymore.

"What is that?"

"Keevy's berries."

I turn away. Stupid city technology.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6- Inheritance and Monkey Boys

My computer broke down for like three days and it was bad. Anyways, I'm not the most punctual writer out there so excuse my lateness. And I'm disappointed, only Skatzaa and gigglesandbooks reviewed for the last chapter. Thanks Skatzaa and gigglesandbooks! Oh and I love cookies. Who doesn't? R&R?

* * *

_Max_

Jeb was determined to teach me to fight, to hunt, to survive in every way. Mom was still in pain, I could tell, because she never really left her feathers. It's easier for us to block out our emotions when we're in our animal form. It lets us revert to our natural wild instincts instead of thinking too much. I'm afraid if Mom goes on like this too long, she'll forget all about Angel and me. I've heard stories where shifters pull themselves away from their clans and live alone and forget how to become human again.

Mom wasn't the only one growing weaker. I could tell Jeb was too, the color of his skin paling every day. Cardinals were distinguished by blue markings around their forehead, proof of their nobility.

Angel was recovering. She was closer to Mom than she was to Dad, it doesn't mean she had no love for Dad, but she was faster than all of us to get over his death. It's good for her, Angel was only six, and she shouldn't have to live with the burden of this.

One day about two or three weeks after Jeb joined us; he interrupted my archery lessons and confirmed my suspicions. He was sick, very sick. He was born a leader and now his people were gone. Some part of his mind began to shut down. But before he left the world, he needed an heir. So he decided to choose me.

"What?" I exclaimed as soon as he said it. It wasn't the wittiest thing I could've said but how was I supposed to react to being the next Cardinal? I think it's only natural that I was jolted by the news.

"Max, you're the only one that I can trust," he insisted a bit wearily.

"But I'm not even you're blood, it wouldn't work!" I protested.

He chuckles, "You really don't know how this works do you? The power is passed on through an ancient incantation."

"But-"

"Listen, I don't have much time. I can feel it."

"Fine," I finally relent.

He taught me the words and we chanted in unison. It felt ridiculous. He presses his forefingers to his forehead and then to mine. I felt a strange energy fill me. I suddenly could see every muscle in me and each responded to my command. I could feel the breath in my lungs, my hearing sharpened. Knowledge flooded my being as well as a sense of inferiority. A swirl of old and waves of new collided within me. I opened my eyes and walked to see my reflection in the river. Sure enough, above my eyebrows was a bright blue ring of markings that seemed to pulse with energy that was evidence that I was now the new Cardinal.

Jeb stood behind me, a hand on my shoulder and in a startlingly croaking voice said, "I am proud of you." And then, he collapsed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, panic rising up inside of me.

"I gave all my energy to you so you may continue the line," his breaths came shallow and fast, his chest heaved and his body trembled.

"Mother! Come quickly!"

She raced to me and Jeb, "He's dying, Mom!"

Mom placed a hand on my shoulder like Jeb had done scarcely seconds before, "Let him go."

* * *

_Fang_

"Did you hear that?" Iggy asks, putting up a finger to shush me. I stay still and listen, "We're being followed. We have been followed for a while."

There was a rustling sound in the trees around us. Something burst from a nearby bush and then rushed back into the leaves.

"Who's there?" I demanded.

Iggy shot a net up to the trees and something tumbled down. It scrambled and clawed at the net. Then it stopped moving and seemed to change. It was a shifter. His blond hair and mischievous blue eyes glared up at us in anger.

He bared his teeth, "Who are you people?"

"Who are you first?" Iggy asks.

"My name's Gazzy," he said, and then he changed, shrinking and elongating until he becomes a monkey. And then he switched back again, clearly struggling to get free of the ropes. We take the net off.

"Who are you?" he growls.

"I'm Iggy," he points to himself and then to me, "And that's Fang."

"You're human," he sniffs in disdain.

"Yes," I snarl, "Problem?"

"Hey, stop it you two," Iggy steps between us, putting his hands up, "We need your help, Gazzy."

I look at him in confusion. Gazzy studies Iggy, "How?"

"Where are you from, shifter?"

"Canopy Hills," he replies, "Why?"

"Do you know where the hawks live?" Iggy asks.

"Yes, by the Human Capitol, Blueburn Village."

"We need to find a hawk," Iggy asks.

"What's the hawk's name?"

"Don't know," I tell him.

"Then don't ask me," Gazzy turns to leave.

"Wait, how are you at tracking hawks?" Iggy asks, fatigue on his face.

"Why? It's not like I eat them," Gazzy sneers.

"We need to find her," I finally say.

Gazzy studies us, judging with his eyes. I realized he's very young, maybe less than Nudge's age. His youthful features showed in the curve of his cheeks and dimples as he smirked. His big blue eyes were innocent but hardened slightly. Of course, he's probably the only one he knows left. Another survivor, the shifter girl will be happy.

"Fine," he says after a while, "Most likely, she'll be looking for a Cardinal."

"What's that?" Iggy asks and Gazzy rolls his eyes.

"We got a lot of work to do," he says.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7-Help Me?

Thanks to my reviewers betweenthelines77, , , gigglesandbooks, and Skatzaa.

Y'all gonna love this chapter! AHAHAHAHAHAH!

* * *

_Max_

The Cardinal had a proper burial, unlike my father who'd been too lost to be buried. The Cardinal was a great mentor and the closest thing I had to a friend in a long time. In the village, I was an outcast expect for Amandria who'd died of flu when she was 9. It had been six years since then.

Mom, Angel and I decided to go East to search for another city and hopefully more survivors.

We were passing through the Tuskine Forest when a stray arrow almost hit me. It slid threw my hair and thwacked into a tree. I slid into a lynx form, defensive. It was new to me, the fur, yet it felt familiar too. I crouched and growled.

"Iggy, what was that for?" a familiar dark voice appeared in the direction the arrow came. The leaves in the underbrush rustled three times at a disturbance. Suddenly, a face appeared, on I had hoped never to see again. It was the dark-haired, dark-eyed prince-ling with a name like a tooth. I moaned and covered my head in my arm. Fang. God, I closed my eyes in frustration. I slid back into my human form.

"Something moved!" the one named Iggy said. And then there was a pause when Fang saw us, "What are you looking at- oh."

I lifted my head up. He had grown leaner, his cheekbones more pronounced. He looked wilder as well and a scar marked his face stretching from the bridge of his nose to his right cheek.

"No," he said under his breath.

"Max?" Mom asked, "Who's this?"

"Mother," I say, softly and slowly, "This is the son of the Queen, Fang."

"Max, is that your name?" Fang asks.

I glare at him. Angel seems to sense between us, "I don't care if you're the Prince. Leave her alone!"

Something hurtles out of the trees and lands between us two groups. It hisses at Angel's hostility. There's a monkey. Another shifter?

"There seems to be a lot of explaining we need to do."

* * *

_Fang_

"Max, how have you been?" I try to make it less tense between us.

"I've been good," Max replies, her tone very dry, "How's life being the Queen's puppet?"

I frown, "Max, you-"

"He was disowned," Iggy interrupts, "Because he let you escape. We've been tracking you down for the past three weeks."

"Tracking me down?" she snarls, "I'm not a criminal."

"He didn't mean it like that," I tell her.

"Sure he didn't. As if humans ever care about anything but themselves."

I opened my mouth, wanting to say, _I care about you_. But decided against it. I look at Gazzy who turns into his human form again. Gazzy turns to look at Max, suddenly gasps and then bows low.

"Gazzy, what are you doing?" Iggy asks.

"Your Grace," Gazzy mumbles to Max.

"Your Grace?" Iggy echoes in confusion. Then I notice the blue markings circling her forehead.

"Max, why don't you introduce us," her mom said cautiously, observing the fight. Her mother was a retiring beauty, her once brown-black hair streaked with grey; her eyes were a light hazel brown just like Max's. Her sister, however, had blue eyes, maybe like her father? They seemed very close. They would have to be, considering they had no one else left.

"This is Fang, the Prince's son," she almost spits out, "These are his friends. Fang and friends, this is my mother, Valencia, and my sister, Angel."

"Iggy and Gazzy," I point to them.

"Good, now that we got that out of the way, we can go our separate ways, ta," she turns to leave.

"Wait, Max," I put an arm out to stop her.

* * *

_Max_

I almost jump out and lash at him as he touches me. He took my hand gently and I shook it off. I was three seconds away from turning into a wolf and tearing his throat out. I didn't care anymore that he risked his life to save mine.

I huff and my hair blows out of my forehead. With a familiarity I didn't like, he felt them.

"You didn't have these before, did you?" he asked.

"No," I turned my head away.

"Where did you get them? What do they mean? Why was Gazzy so shocked to see them?" For a moment, I though he actually cared.

"I don't have to tell you anything," I hiss, "Let go of me."

"Your Grace!" The monkey shifter, Gazzy, called out, "We've been looking very hard to find you. Please, if not for him, for me. I don't have anyone left."

I glare at Fang, "I'm the new Cardinal. These are the Cardinal's markings. I'm not only a hawk anymore, I can be anything. I'm the new ruler of the North, but what good is a Cardinal without a nation to rule?"

"Gazzy explained to me about Cardinals," and then something clicks in his head, "Max, one skin on the Queen's wall has those markings. Not three. Do you have any idea what this means?" He got excited. This is probably the most he's ever said in his life. He reeked of excitement and his eyes shone like lightning.

"No," I say cautiously, fearing this idea.

"There's at least two survivors left," he says, hushed but urgent.

Despite my mood, a grin slowly spread across my face and I threw my arms around his neck, laughing. Once I realized what I was doing, I calmed myself and stepped back.

"Will you help me?" I asked when I released him.

His perfect lips- no, bad Max what are you thinking?-turned down in the corners in a mock frown. A quizzical expression marred his face. It was a long, tense while before he spoke, "I'm considering, the last time I helped you I woke up with a massive headache and mom disowned me and gave me this," he traced the scar. I look at him and he finally smiles a little, barely more than a lip quirk, "I'll help you."


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8-Felhor Caverns

My thanks to BoOkWoRm, MySilenceIsInfinity, Skatzaa, gigglesandbooks, betweeenthelines77, , and . I got so much more reviews this time. Thanks everybody! Virtual presents for everyone! I wasn't really sure what exactly I was going to do with this chapter so this kind of just… happened. Anyways, hope you like, it's more of a filler than anything. Merry Christmas everyone! I just had to get this in before the world ended. So… R&R?

* * *

_Max_

"Max, this is Iggy, he's my best friend since birth, and former best tracker in the Queen's army," Fang says, "And this is Gazzy, we ran into him a while back."

"Former best tracker means that I'm still the world's best tracker, just not for the Queen anymore," Iggy grins, and thumps Fang on the back, earning him a glare, "Not since my boy here got disowned."

The look Fang gave him was like ice. He murmurs something like, "Do not mention this in front of her," underneath his breath, his tone was menacing. Iggy backs off immediately, knowing this was a touchy subject. I'll have to ask him about this later.

I force a cheery smile, "Disowned, huh?"

He doesn't say anything.

I frown, "Anyways… Mother, Angel, make new friends."

Angel didn't say a word but clung to mom who eyed Fang with distrust.

"It's okay, mom," I whisper, "He's not going to rat us out."

Gazzy speaks up, "Your Grace, I'm Gazzy, I'm a Patas Monkey from Canopy Hills."

Something occurs to me. I notice a very small scar right below his right eye, "Canopy Hills is in the West, am I right?"

"Yes, Your Grace."

"When was your village attacked?" I asked and then see him flinch, "I'm sorry, Gazzy, I didn't mean-"

"It's alright, your Grace," he says, "Canopy Hills is near the Cardinal West City, also near the Felhor Caverns. One night, I was coming home from the market at the Cardinal City and then I heard this sound, this horrible shrieking. There was a strange gold glow near where my home was. They burned the tree houses, the whole entire complex above the ground was in ashes. And then pretty soon, the whole forest was on fire. I think someone heard me and shot at me because that's how I got this," he points to his scar, "I fled to the city, but that was in ashes. The people were dying.

"I needed to find you because I think I know where the people of Cardinal West are hiding," he tells me, his face sullen. I'm startled by how young he looks and how old he sounds.

"Where's that?" I ask, a little part of me hoping but the rest not daring.

"The Felhor Caverns," he says, "The Queen's men don't dare go in there. Humans believe it's cursed, but that ground is protected by the Bats and other tribes. I believe any survivors would have sought refuge there."

"So why didn't you?"

"I- I don't know," he admits finally, "I guess I couldn't. I still thought that maybe- just maybe- my family might be alive, and I should be looking for them and not cowering in terror. My little sister, Vinnie, was only born 3 months ago, and my mom and dad are still young. Your Grace, if I may make a suggestion, we should head west to the Felhor Caverns."

I consider it and finally I answer him, "Done."

* * *

_Fang_

Suddenly, I was filled with thoughts of my sisters. How was Nudge? Is she as talkative as ever, is she still shut away by mother like she always was ever since mom started the "purges"? What about Ella? A twang plucks at my heart strings when I remember that Iggy and Ella were in love. But now that Iggy is with me, and I'll never see Ella again, it feels like I separated them.

Angel and Max were off talking to Gazzy, drawing something on the ground. It looked elaborate, like a map. Iggy walked over as I studied Max's face. She looked older somehow, even though it's only been a couple weeks. Something about her seemed hopelessly lost but strong at the same time.

"Well, we found her, what next?" Iggy asks.

I don't answer him, "Did you love Ella?" I ask suddenly.

He looks a little shocked, and I didn't really expect him to answer the question truthfully. Especially since we were friends and I'm her older brother. He scrambles for words, "I- Of course I did, but Fang-"

"Do me a favor," I tell him, "Marry her when we get back. I want her as far away from the Queen as possible. I trust you."

I put a hand on his shoulder and stand up, facing away.

* * *

_Max_

"Cardinal West?" Angel says in shock, "But the Felhor Caverns is infamous for its traps and endless pits. It's a giant maze within a maze."

"Not with Gazzy here," I say confidently. Mother comes up from behind me, studying the map Gazzy drew on the ground, "Gazzy was a local there, Felhor Caverns are a pattern. Look."

Gazzy demonstrates how the first portion was blocked off by a web of dead ends and pits. There were only a few ways to get in besides flying like the natives would. However, Gazzy, Iggy and Fang couldn't fly. Therefore, we would have to find these paths. There were three paths that were pit-free and branched out like rivers into the dark. From there were many jagged rocks and were upon pressure, the floor would collapse or send waves of arrows flying at you.

"What about this tunnel?" Mom asks, pointing to one tunnel leading off the map Gazzy drew. It didn't seem to lead anywhere. It didn't have any traps or corridors leading off of it.

"That tunnel is rumored to be a direct path beyond the Forbidden Mountains. It's rumored that shifters live there also, and there's an ocean. No one ever dared to go through that tunnel. And besides, it's unsafe. It runs under the mountain. No one knows if it's been blocked off by a collapsing or what not," Gazzy explains, and then points to five separate little places on the map, "This is where the natives live. We're aiming for these places to look for survivors."

"Right," I confirm, "Iggy! Fang! Get over here!"

Iggy appears out of the woods, his arms full of firewood. Fang saunters over lazily. He moves like one of us. I noticed, but just a little bit clumsier, not fully achieving the grace we can. But still, there was something about him that didn't make him seem fully human like Iggy or any of the pale-faced spindly humans I've seen.

"We're going to the West to find the Cardinal Ceferino there. It's going to be very dangerous but Gazzy knows the way in and out of the caves," I tell them.

"West?" Iggy asks, "Why not East or South?"

"We don't know for sure if the Cardinal East is alive, but Gazzy seems pretty positive that Cardinal West is taking refuge in the Felhor Caves. And as for Cardinal South, no one has been there in maybe a generation. Rumor has it; it was burned a while back. Jeb never told me if Cardinal South is alive."

The story of Cardinal South was pretty strange. Before mom or dad was born, the Cardinal there disappeared. His or her name was erased from all records. No one knew if it still exists which is pretty bizarre. My theory is that it's been overrun by humans.

I scan the circle of faces, satisfied with the approval I found.

Still, my gaze lingered on Fang's face, something undeniably sad about his expression.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9- Exemplar Facultas

So… the world didn't end. Well this is awkward. Anyways, if anyone has seen Romeo X Juliet, it's an amazing anime; this is my third time watching it. So this is why I haven't updated in a while. It makes me cry every single time I watch it. I promise all of you will be addicted.

Anyways, protocol, thanks to all of my followers. R&R?

* * *

_Max_

"Mom, wake up," I whisper, nudging her. Her nightmares have gotten worse it seemed. She didn't look peaceful in her sleep like she did before, instead, her brow was furrowed, her lips parted in silent screams. She startled as she woke, as if anticipating an attack.

"Mom, it's okay, it's me, we need to talk," I tell her. The sun hadn't come up yet. The hum of crickets was still in the air, a cruel wind around us, piercing as a dagger.

"Of course, honey," she says, smoothing my hair, holding my hand as if I was the one who needed comforting. She acts like she's fine and it troubles me, "What is it?"

"I- I need your opinion," I tell her, although she's so fragile now I thought my words might break her, "Mom, what do you think about Fang and Iggy?"

She looks at me in surprise. I've never asked her about her advice on anything before, "Max-"

"I need your opinion, Mom," I plead, "I don't know what to do. I don't deserve to be the new Cardinal. I'm… confused about a lot of things."

"How do you know the Queen's son?" she asks.

"I didn't get out of the dungeons alone."

"Did he-?"

I nod, "He's no longer the Queen's son. And it's all my fault."

"That's a special sort of sacrifice," Mom says, "Especially from a stranger. Why did he help you?"

"I don't know," I shake my head, and look away.

"Max, trust your instincts. Do you trust him?" she brushes my hair back behind my ears like old times, when I was younger.

"I think so, but, he's _human_ and the son of the _Queen_," I lean against her. It was the first time in years that I did. When I was younger, Dad was on my other side and I'd be on both of their laps. We were so happy. So how could I trust the son of the person that destroyed that happiness?

"You can't judge a person based on their background," she says gently, stroking my back, "He might be entirely different. The Queen is without mercy, but her son isn't her. Do you understand, Max?"

"Yes," I say.

"But be on guard always," Mom cautions.

"Of course."

* * *

_Fang_

"Up," Max growls, throwing my coat onto my chest. I groan and roll over, a lark chirping away in the distance. The sun was barely up. Max moves on to wake Gazzy and Iggy. Angel clung to Max's shirt tail, rubbing her eyes in fatigue. Her mother was packing stuff into a make-shift bag.

I scratch my head, shaking out my hair, feeling like a wild dog of some kind. It was strange sleeping in the forest, even after these few weeks. I missed my bed back home. But then I'm reminded that it's not my home any longer.

"We're leaving now," Max says, "Gazzy, can you draw a map for us to keep?"

"Of course, your Grace," and he scampers over to find cloth and ink salvaged from Cardinal North.

"Fang," she turns to me, "Make yourself useful. Help mom with the packing, find as many weapons as you can. There are jars of medicine by the campfire."

I nod and go help her mother. It surprised me when I saw a long sword in there next to the bows and daggers. "Where'd you get all this from?"

"Jeb showed us to the armory in Cardinal North," Max's mom said in a clipped, business like tone, "Go get the medicine. I need you to collect the cloth too from your sleeping mats."

"Right," I go over to the fire to get the medicine jars. They were filled with assorted colored berries and creams that couldn't be found in human territory. How much of this stuff have we killed off?

"Fang," Iggy pulls my elbow to get my attention.

"What is it?"

"This is going to be dangerous," he warns.

"What, not what you signed up for?" I joke.

"No, Max told me to track something. Something I don't have anything to go off of," he says underneath his breath.

"And what's that?" I smirk, enjoying my friend's helplessness. He's never had a real challenge before. It'll be healthy for him.

"I've been told to look for something called the Exemplar Facultas."

* * *

_Max_

"Are we ready?" I ask.

"Max," Angel says urgently, "Take a look."

It was Gazzy's map. It didn't just include the caves. It included every part of the known world. Including the land beyond the Forbidden Mountains. There was a word scripted there as well. _Anrytor._ It was the shifter word for unknown.

"This is amazing, Gazzy, how did you do this?"

"I don't know," he admitted, "I just saw it. And I drew it."

"This is great," I smile. I trace a path through the forests and around the lakes and across rivers. It'll take maybe five days on foot to get to Cardinal West. It would only take two if we flew. But considering we have humans traveling with us, we'll be slowed down.

"Thank you, your Grace."

"Just Max," I tell him.

"Let's go."

* * *

_Fang_

"What is the Exemplar Facultas?" I pull Max away from the group. She looks at me strangely.

"Where did you hear that from?"

"Iggy, who else?" I say, "Why is Iggy so troubled that he has to find it? Why do you need him to track it? What is it?"

"Wow, so many words in one breathe. Don't over-exert yourself there," she says with infuriating calm.

"Tell me."

She sighs and finally answers me, "Exemplar Facultas is a rumor. It's stupid but I need to find it. It's the origin of the shifters. It can turn into any form. Even animals that don't exist. It's ancient, older than anything. Its name literally means the Original Power. But no one has seen it in millennia."

"So why does Iggy need to track it?"

She smiles ruefully, "We need it. It's our only chance in this war. We're dying. The shifters are gone. Can you imagine this?"

"It's going to be dangerous isn't it?"

"That's what makes it fun," she laughs, "Or are you too chicken?"


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10-Forgiveness

So… how's everyone? Don't forget to review, review!

* * *

_Max_

Fang is beyond angry with me. I can tell. There's just something in the shape of his eyebrows, the way they furrow in the center like ocean waves. Or there's the fact that he refuses to speak to me. I guess I over-stepped my authority by putting his best friend in danger as well. He's such a saint. Always caring about others and never himself. He didn't have any qualms when he knew he was going to be in harm's way. I suppose that's admirable. Though I don't think that he has any right to be angry because Iggy already agreed to help me.

But honestly, the Exemplar Facultas isn't anything to get worked up over. It's more like a spirit really. That's why no one's seen it such a long time. It's more elusive than the wind. It's just power, just a ball of power that shifts forms. We need more shifters, if shifters are ever going to survive. There's only four left that I know of, and hopefully more in the caves. Realistically speaking, there's a very little chance that shifters can survive beyond this generation.

It takes us six long days to get to Cardinal West, and a silent trip at that. What with Fang ignoring me, Gazzy and Angel becoming as close as kin, Iggy all serious, and Mom still weary from the events in the last month, we all walked in complete silence. The only words spoken were Gazzy and Angel playing games to pass the time, or soft "sorry"s when we accidently bumped into each other.

I don't think we can last long like this.

I didn't want him mad at me. I don't care whose son he is, I don't care if he hates me for taking away his family. Some part of me is eternally grateful for what he did for me. I would have to be. He saved my skin, or feathers, whatever you'd like to call it. I wanted to be alright with him again. We weren't ever exactly friends but maybe we could?

Or maybe we've been distanced from civilization so long that I'm too desperate for companionship.

* * *

_Fang_

What was she thinking? She had no right to ask Iggy to put himself in danger. She could've at least mentioned to me that Iggy was in mortal danger by even having his sight on finding the _thing _before telling him to track it. She could've said something along the lines of, "By the way, Fang, if Iggy does find the Exemplar Facultas, there's a good chance it'll get angry and kill Iggy and maybe even us."

I was fuming by the time she told me exactly how dangerous this would be. But Iggy was absolutely adamant about finding the creature. There was something about him that leapt at the challenge. Of course, this was only _after_ Max told him what the Exemplar Facultas is.

I talked to him about it yesterday morning while we were making camp at the edge of the Delphis River near the Cardinal West. He laughed and said, "Fang, there's some things about me that you'd never understand."

But he was my best friend, what didn't I understand about him? "What do you mean?" I had asked.

He didn't answer me, instead he turned, a small wistful smile on his face, "And there are some things you don't yet understand about yourself."

I didn't sleep well last night thinking about what he said. Iggy was always the playful one, the joker. Since when did he get all wise and mysterious on me? I got up and washed my face in the river five times, tossed and turned, scooted closer to the fire, but to no avail. I couldn't sleep. Something was bugging me.

Max slept across from me, her blonde hair falling softly over her eyes, her lips parted just a bit to let out her gentle breaths. I studied her. Her position seemed almost guarded, as if at a seconds notice, she'd spring into action, ready to take on any enemy.

I was mad at her. She was completely stupid and careless. But I guess she has her reasons.

* * *

_Max_

"_Max! Wait, please," his black eyes were captivating. A sense of security washed over me, despite the warfare around me. The horrible scent of metal mixed with blood, this strange evil that controlled us made me want to die. But I couldn't. It was a terrible feeling._

"_Do you trust me?" he asks, crushing me to his chest in a tight embrace. _

_I nod even though I couldn't see his face, "I trust you, Fang."_

"_I'll protect you, Max," he says into my ear and I wrap my arms around his neck, trying to hold onto him tighter. It felt so right being held in his arms._

_But then there was a small prick in my arm and then a burning sensation. I leap backwards, and notice there was a flash of silver in Fang's hands. There was a sadistic look on his face. Dangerous. I look down at my forearm, where there was a deep slash, blood pooling with a green glowing substance. I look up at him, my eyes flooded with betrayal. _

_Something flashes in his eyes. Anger? Confusion? "Max, I'm not going to hurt you," but even as he said this, he seemed to grow taller, darker, his teeth elongating, his eyes growing deeper until he looked skeletal until he wasn't himself anymore. Instead I was looking into the brown-haired embodiment of evil._

_Queen Marian Janssen. _

"_What are you doing here?" I hiss._

"_Why, Max," her lips curl into a sardonic smile, "I'd think you'd be more welcoming to the grandmother of your child."_

"_What-?" I look down, and then I see the small but defined bump at my stomach. My hands fly to the baby instinctively, my motherly genes taking over._

_I look up, Marian still standing before me, but then I notice our surroundings as well. My mother and Angel were lying on the ground, swimming in blood. But it wasn't only their blood; there were thousands upon thousands of people piled around us._

_And then in front of me, lay Fang. _

_Dead._

_I break down crying, hugging myself, burying my head into his chest. There was something wet on my hands, and I brought them up to my face. My fingers were covered in red._

"_Max! Max! Max!" A million people chanted. They were the souls of the dead. It was all my fault._

"Max!" Angel shook me awake. I opened my eyes to the harsh light of day.

"Max, are you okay?" Angel says, shooting me a worried look, "You're crying."

I bring my hands to my face, feeling the wetness on my cheeks. I nod, and then remembering my dream, I jump to my feet.

"Where's Fang?" I cry out frantically.

"I'm right here, Max," he says calmly, walking out of the forest, a bow in his hand. He looked like he was out hunting. Safe. He was safe, "Did you need anything from me?"

I sigh with relief, shaking my head and smiling. He was safe. He's not dead. There's nothing to worry about. But then I remember the baby.

* * *

_Fang_

"Where's Fang?" Max screams. She sounded like she was in trouble.

I ran towards the edge of the forest, towards her voice. Then I see that she's okay. I calm down.

"I'm right here, Max. Did you need anything from me?" I say, trying to be reassuring. She looked a mess. Her hair was a rat's nest; her eyes were bloodshot, like she didn't get any sleep. Tears were streaming down her face.

She smiles as she sees me, the same smile that I saw directed at Angel or her mom. It was the kind of smile I wanted from her the minute I saw her at the castle. But then a strange emotion washes over her features and she walks away from me. Leaping into a deer form, she starts towards the river.

"Wait, Max!" I chase after her. She weaves through trees and bushes and I end up following the quiver of twigs and leaves because I can't see her anymore.

She stops to rest at the river bank, resting her head on a rock. She stayed sprawled there as I approached her. I knew she knew I was there from the tenseness of her back.

"Max," I say cautiously, almost like approaching a wild animal.

"Fang," she says in a weary tone.

"Max, I don't want to fight anymore," I say. I didn't want her to be like this towards me.

She looks incredulous for a while and for a second I think she's still mad until she turns to me and hugs me quickly. I freeze and she pulls away.

"I'm sorry…about that," she says in a daze.

"It's okay," I tell her. It was. For a second, I could smell the musky scent of earth and wood on her skin. I missed her warm skin against me. But that was stupid thinking.

"Fang," she says suddenly after a little silence.

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry about Iggy. And I'm sorry about your family. And I'm sorry that you have two sisters at home that are not at all safe with the queen," she says softly, her head sort of bowed in shame.

"How did you know about my sisters?"

"Iggy," she says. Of course it was Iggy.

"I'm really sorry, Fang. I understand that I'm selfish and I didn't think about Iggy's safety or yours."

"It's alright, Max."

She looks at me, hopeful, "Really?"

"Really."


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11- Hope

Hola everyone! Happy New Year! Actually, I've been watching Death Note lately and it's amazing. It's really dark but Ryuk makes it ten times better cuz he's hilarious. I finished Romeo x Juliet for the third time and I was crying so bad. Go watch them both!

Honestly, no one saw the foreshadowing from Max's dream scene? :P

So…Continuing on.

R&R?

* * *

_Max_

"Wake up, Gazzy," I shook him, "Do you have the map?"

He mutters something in his sleep and rolls over.

"Gazzy!" I half-whisper, half-shout, "Wake up now!"

"Go away, Max," he grunts and raises himself up on his forearms unsteadily. His little cloak slips off of his shoulder.

"Gazzy, I need the map," I tell him urgently.

He scratches his head and pulls something out of the nearby bag. Parchment lands in my hands, "There," he murmurs, still half-asleep.

I study the straight lines of the caves. There's no way these caves are natural. The natives there must have spent a lot of energy to make these caves. Especially that last tunnel to nowhere…

It seemed out of place, too off kilter. Where the beginning of the caves was an organized mess of halls and turns and dead ends, and the actual villages were distanced just so from each other, the last tunnel was off balance. Maybe it was made before the actual villagers got there? If so, then who made it? Still, looking at the whole picture, I couldn't help but feel a strange sense of foreboding.

"Max?" Gazzy says, interrupting my thoughts.

"We're leaving now. Wake the others. How far away from the caves are we?"

"Three hours top, along the way, we should pass the Palace at Cardinal West. It's significantly different from Cardinal North, so don't get lost," he smiles at the last bit.

I frown a little mockingly, "All right, let's get going."

* * *

_Fang_

"What is it now!" I groan in exasperation. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in weeks. I dreamed of Nudge and Ella last night. I wonder when I'll be able to see them.

Then a bag of clothes came flying at my head, "Get up, you bum."

"The ever pleasant Max, why are you in such a good mood today?" I ask sarcastically, slipping on my coat. It's gotten colder these days, and we all slept in a clump. I stretch a little and get up.

"We're leaving today," grumbles while throwing clothes and supplies into a pile which Iggy threw into another pile that Valencia- Max's mom- cleaned up and finally packed neatly into six little bags for each of us to carry. I scratch my head and watch in confusion.

Angel bounds over to me, "You love her anyways," she says before skipping away.

What?

Angel flies over to Max and whispers something into her ear which must have been shocking because Max visibly recoiled. Her eyes flick over to me and then look away. What's Angel up to?

* * *

_Max_

"Fang was calling for his teddy bear in his sleep," Angel whispers in my ear.

I step back, "What?" I look over to Fang who scowls at Angel.

Angel grins and then flies to mom. That girl, I swear will be the death of me. She's too tricky.

Gazzy was off to the side, doing his own thing, putting finishing touches on the map. Iggy was by him, tracing the map with his finger. Iggy understands shifters on a level that Fang or any other human doesn't. But Iggy was trained to track humans and animals. I suppose, that's why he's good at what he does. The problem with the Exemplar Facultas is that it isn't exactly an animal or a human. That's why he's at a loss. Otherwise, I believe that this human tracker is fully capable of tracking the Exemplar Facultas if it was a stable being. But it's not. Just like me.

"Come on, everyone, let's go," I wave to them, slinging my own bag over my shoulder. I wonder if Iggy could track me now that I'm the Cardinal. Or maybe I should have him try to track the Cardinal West. If the Cardinal West is actually alive. Since Iggy's tracking skills are based off of instinctual, physical and emotional behaviors of the subject, I wonder how Cardinals react to things. Cardinals are more stable than the Exemplar but maybe it was the same thing…

I shoot a look at Iggy who was studying the ground, "Iggy," I call to him.

"Hmmm?" he glances up at me, "What is it?"

"I want you to see if you can track the Cardinal West," I tell him.

"What?" he protests, "But we don't even know if he's alive."

"We have to try. It might help us understand the Exemplar Facultas more," I look at Fang who glares at me before looking away. He thinks that I'm putting Iggy in danger again. Why does he always doubt me?

"Fine," Iggy consents.

It's a little over a two hour walk from camp to the Cardinal West City. The Cardinal West was extremely different than Cardinal North. Where Cardinal North was all water and open streams, Cardinal West was more airy and wide. Skeletons of buildings showed very hollow and open hallways and rooms. Windows on every side allowed things in. The grand palace itself was four magnificent domes surrounding an even larger one. And of course, even more windows. It was… airy.

"Water, now air," Fang muses, "Earth and fire left then I suppose."

"What did you say?" I turn to him, surprised. The four elements were very important to shifters. Could it be that the Cardinal cities were corresponding to the elements?

Fang repeats himself reluctantly, and I suddenly had no doubt in my mind what the original shifters were thinking. But why?

"Here! This way!" Gazzy shouts, leading us down a once-paved road, now turned into rubble. The roads too? What was the Queen thinking? "This road will take us to the village near the caves. We can stop there for lunch and then continue on to the Felhor Caverns."

"How long is it going to take?" Angel complains.

"Twenty minutes," Gazzy grins, messing up Angel's hair. She yelps and then tackles him and they roll down the hill, punching and kicking. They're so much like brother and sister it's eery. And I'm supposed to be her sister.

Mom steps up from behind me, "We're close, Max. I believe there are survivors there."

"I hope so."


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12- What is Itex?

Woohoo! Two chapters in a day.

Actually, I wrote this one because I had

Nothing better to do

There were some major questions I thought would be pretty messy if I didn't clear up soon

I have horrible timing when it comes to updating so I figured I'd just update again so I'm on the front page again.

Anyone else notice I'm horribly selfish?

To answer **gigglesandbooks** question: NO! Fang is most definitely not going to die. He's going to live a long happy life because I've had a slight crush on him forever. Yes I am insane, just not that insane. Phew, now that that's over with…

Also, I'm disappointed. No one else saw what was going on? Well, it'll be interesting to read your reactions when it actually happens. I dropped a few more hints in the last chapter and in this one. :(

Lol R&R?

* * *

_Max_

This was it.

Felhor Caverns.

There were three entrances and one hidden one to balance out the numbers. Whoever designed the caves had too much time on their hands. The first three entrances were grand and large, so that they could be spotted from quarter of a mile away. Those were meant for the people who were very familiar with the caves and for those who can fly through the caves without setting off the traps. The fourth entrance was significantly smaller than the others, specially made for humans and/or land shifters who couldn't fly like Gazzy, Iggy and Fang. It was tucked in an alcove which was shielded by an almost un-noticeable arch of rocks that made the entrance seem like the shadows. If you didn't know where the fourth entrance was, it was pretty much near impossible to find it.

Of course, it was a lucky thing we had Gazzy.

"Torches," I call back to them. Five flames spark to life and Angel lights mine for me, "Gazzy, the map?"

"Oh yeah," he fumbles for it and hands it to me.

I nod a thanks and then wave for them to follow me.

The first corridor was angled like a diagonal, and three small corridors branched off the end. Two of which connected to a couple of the tunnels from the first three entrances. We were supposed to take the tunnel that lead deeper into the caves, towards southwest. That one will lead to a fork in the road. The left fork lead to a dead end.

But the more I studied the map the more the lines seemed to move.

"I can't do this!" I complain, suddenly stopping.

What happened next is truly embarrassing and will no doubt ruin my reputation because everyone knows that I'm super-naturally graceful. I elegantly tripped over the rock and I dropped the map and the torch which went out.

Angel and Mom rushed up to me, "Max! Are you okay?"

Angel re-lights my torch and hands it to me and I shine it over the map on the ground. It was facing the wrong direction now, where west pointed to North. But the tunnels of the caves made a sort of symbol I've never seen before. It wasn't shifter. Maybe… human?

"Fang! Iggy! Do you see this?" I trace the symbol with my hand. It was all sharp corners and intercrossing lines. It didn't look like a word.

"It looks ancient," Iggy muses and looks over at Fang. Fang doesn't notice. He's too busy staring at the map.

"It looks like something from my mom- I mean, the Queen's- palace. I'm sure I've seen it before," he puts his hand to his chin and sits near the map, studying it.

There's a silence.

"That's it!" Iggy says, "Of course, we have seen it before. It's everywhere. It's on the throne in the throne room. It's on the dome of the throne room hall. It's woven in the mats in the training room. It's in the cathedral. But I don't know what it means."

I think back to the time when I was in the palace. And then I could see the symbol again, over and over in my mind. I saw it in the throne room, and intricate versions of it was in the sheets. It was branded on the lock of my cell. It was carved into the stone of the cell wall. But what is it?

"I-tex," Fang says quietly.

"What?"

"Itex."

* * *

_Fang_

I can't really explain where I got the word from. It just came to me. Maybe the Queen said it to me when I was younger? I learned in my studies somewhere that the human brain can remember the tiniest tidbits of information. The sub-consciousness stores it all. What is Itex? I racked my brain, looking for the answer.

"Is it a species of animal?" Angel asks in her little girl voice?

"No, I don't think so," Max tells her.

Her mom's eyebrows are furrowed in concentration.

"Why would a _human_ symbol be the structure of a shifter cave?" Gazzy asks.

I try to think. What was Itex?

Absently, I snuff out my torch and start doodling on the ground beside the map. Itex. Itex. Itex. Why couldn't I remember what Itex was? I remembered the name so what is it? It's a human symbol that's everywhere back at the Palace. It's printed on the coins at the market. Ella's dresses and trinkets had Itex's symbol on it. Itex was no doubt human. But weren't shifters older than humans? So why….?

"Fang!" Max's sharp voice cut into my thoughts, "What did you just draw?"

I look at the ground below me. It was the Itex symbol only repeated four times. The last tunnel on the map was in the doodle too. It connected the four symbols together.

"Four again?" I mutter. What was it with this world and the number four? Four cardinals, four cardinal cities, four elements, four seasons, four symbols. What's going on?

Max eyes me suspiciously, "Change of plan. Our top priority is to find the last tunnel."

* * *

_Max_

We set off again, this time with Gazzy leading because it is, after all, his map. And I couldn't navigate for the life of me. Itex was human, but shifters came before humans. Maybe, the Felhor Caverns were made after the humans came up with Itex? But that still doesn't make any sense. Shifters hate humans by nature.

Iggy nudges me, "I can't get a hold of Cardinal West."

"That means either the Cardinal Ceferino is dead or you can't track Cardinals like I expected. Normally, I would just run off and see if you can track me, but it's dangerous here and there's a small possibility that you can find me," I sigh, "Forget about the Exemplar Facultas. I don't think it's possible for you to track it."

"But Max, I can try-" Iggy protests.

"No, Fang is already mad because I asked you to track it. If it isn't possible for you to find it, it's not necessary," I shake out my hair. Something wet just dropped down from the ceiling of the cave. It's probably water from the stalagtites above.

"Fine," he huffs before joining Gazzy at the end.

"Max," Fang catches up to me.

"Yes?"

"After we find the tunnel, we need to go back to the capitol."

"The human capitol?" I was answered with his nod, "Why?"

"It's the only place we can learn more about Itex."

I frowned a little, troubled by this idea. I _hated_ the human capitol. Too many bad memories.

"Max, I understand that you don't want to see the Queen but it's the only way."

"And you want to see your sisters again," I say, watching his reaction.

He didn't even flinch, "Yes. That too."

"Fang-"

I was cut off by a growl overhead. Something wet lands on Fang's head too.

"Um, Max?" he says wavering a little.

"Wait up, everyone, freeze!" I call to the rest of them ahead of us.

I look up slowly and cautiously. A giant glowing green eye and a mouth full of curving yellow teeth hovered above us.

"Don't move," I whisper softly.

"Eww! It drooled on me," Iggy whines loudly.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13-The Beast

Hey everyone! Happy new year. School sucked today so I'm relieving stress.

FAX COMING UP! SPOILER ALERT!

Wait, you're supposed to put the spoiler alert before the actual spoiler…

Enjoy!

* * *

_Fang (Just to add pizzazz, he's starting)_

"Iggy shut up!" I quietly shouted to Iggy who was desperately trying to get the drool out of his hair, "Max, what is this thing?"

"No idea," she replies and then shoots a look at Gazzy, "Gazzy? You know this thing?"

"Nope, it's probably one of the guardians of this place."

"Thanks for telling us before hand," Max says, her voice dripping with venom, "I really appreciate it."

"No problem."

Max's eyes were full of hatred.

"Here's the plan everyone," I tell them, Max looking at me in surprise, "Everyone run that way. Gazzy, you lead. I'll stay back and buy us some time."

"Are you crazy?" Max says, keeping her eyes on the eye above us. It searched for movement, it's breath was foul, "I'm staying with you."

"Max, listen, you can't die-"

But I was cut off by her shout, "Everyone run!"

Max took out a sword from her bag and threw the bag to her mom. They obey her, running in terror. Angel was so close on Iggy's figurative tail that they were almost pressed together. Max's mom ushered them to safety.

She throws the sword to me, "Can you use it?"

"Of course, but-"

What is with her and patience? She didn't wait and then turned into a large bird with purple feathers and flew upwards, right beside the monster's face.

"Max!" I called and she squawked impatiently at me and I climbed up the side of the cave, my hands and feet searching for any small crevice. What was this thing?

My heart sank when I saw the whole thing. It was probably half the size of the palace back home. Its scales were pitch black, spiked tail and curved claws. Max was already taunting it, flying about it, diving down and clawing at its eyes. The tail swung towards me and I slashed down. Bad idea, it turned towards me, its iris swimming in its eyes, searching for me desperately. It has pretty slow reflexes, I realized.

"Max, it's slow!"

She says something that seems a lot like, "Don't you think I've already noticed that?"

Then I see something about it. Its chest heaved with every movement, but just under the skin pulsed a heart.

"Distract it, Max! I see something."

I could practically see the scowl on her lips- or beak- as she dove downwards and clung onto its ear, turning into another animal I couldn't see. It growled at her and she yelped in pain. I ran forwards and drove the sword into its massive heart and then ran to find Max.

She lay on the ground in front of me, her breathing labored.

* * *

_Max_

I've never been in so much pain in my life. I was bleeding from the stupid monster's claws. There was a wide gash on my leg. I wanted to shift back into my hawk form, my most familiar form, to help with the pain but I couldn't. The pain kept me grounded.

I remember when I was young and things were simple. And I didn't have the fate of an entire species on my shoulders. When I flew as free and as fast as the wind, when my family- my entire family's- laughter filled my ears. And I remember when I was happy and not broken.

Someone stepped up to me and I tried to shift to see who it was.

"No, stop Max, don't move," Fang orders, rolling my softly so I was lying on my back.

"Fang?"

"Yeah, it's me, Max," he replies, ripping a sleeve off.

"What are you doing?" I say, trying to sit up and was stopped by a pain shooting up the left side of my body.

"Don't move, Max, I'm going to tie off your wound with my sleeve, okay?"

"Wait," I stop him, "There's a bottle of Keevy's berries in my bag, go and get it, it'll help me heal quicker."

He looked a little torn for a moment, "Max, I shouldn't leave you here alone."

"Just get it, I'll be fine, I promise."

"Okay, Max," he says and disappears through a hole in the floor.

I felt so alone and vulnerable in that cave. I hate feeling vulnerable. Vulnerability is weakness and weakness earned me a chipped tooth and a permanent scar on my side. It felt like I laid their forever in a dark empty void. I was staring up at the ceiling which may as well been the starless sky, and it felt like looking into infinity. After a while I forgot all about my leg and just tried to calm my nerves. It felt like being blind. I'll admit it. The invincible Maximum Ride was terrified of being without my sight.

There were footsteps getting closer and closer and I tensed, just in case, even though I'm not able to move.

"Max," came a cautious whisper.

"Fang," I sigh in relief. The brown canvas cloth landed nest to me, pouring out a little canteen of water and a few old shirts and rags.

"Here," he crouches down next to me and pours a little bit of water on the softest cloth he can find and starts cleaning my wound. I wince at the stinging pain and he hesitates a little before I nod for him to continue. He gently rubs some of the Keevy's berries on my wound. There's a little tingling feeling and then a peaceful numbness. He ties my leg and helps me to stand, "Can you walk?"

"Yes," I say, but my leg was still weak. He caught me as I limped a little.

"It's going to be a little difficult getting you down," he jokes a little bit.

I ended up having to jump from the ledge down to his arms. And it didn't work out too well. I landed sort of on his chest instead of in his actual arms. He was muscular, but the way I landed, I brought both of us onto the ground, my body on his chest, and his lips pressed to my cheek. My eyes widen in shock. I rolled off of him and muttered an apology.

"Let's go find the rest of them," I say quietly.

He helped me walk, our map was the image of "Itex"- whatever it may be, and it was yet unknown-. We decided to follow the path that we decided on before. The last tunnel. Except the image of Itex didn't show us where the traps were. It left us stranded.

So what were we supposed to do now?


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14-

Hello everyone. You know I appreciate every reviewer. Wink wink nudge nudge hint hint.

Just kidding.

But really you guys, I'm disappointed.

Thanks to all of my faithful reviewers.

Oh and I'm sorry I didn't update for so long. I just wrote about half of it and then I couldn't think of how to finish this so it's going to go a little fast because I don't really know what to do. So enjoy.

R&R?

* * *

_Max_

Fang was trying too hard, I decided. He was too nice to me. His arm was around my waist as I used him as a crutch. I would feel bad for leaning against him so much but I was too weak to care. I understand that I had an injured leg but it didn't automatically make me eight years younger. I wasn't a baby and I hated being babied. He put the canteen to my lips for me to drink and fed me and barely took care of himself. It's stupid. I hurt my leg not my arms.

But deep down, I felt like it wasn't exactly because of my injury that he was being so nice to me. I remembered the warmth of his lips against my cheek.

"Max!" there was a yell. It was loud and off to our right. Or at least I think it was our right. Sound bounced off the cave walls too much. It was like a bombardment of sound reverberating around me, echoes focusing on me. It hurt my ears. It sounded like Angel.

"Over there," I pointed towards the direction of the voice. I sped up my limping a bit and stumbled.

"Whoa there," Fang chuckles a little, helping me back up.

"Don't make fun of me," I whine.

I could feel the rumble of his chest as he held back his laughter. I rolled my eyes.

"Wait, okay, now do Fang," came a giggle.

We rounded a corner and found… what?

"What are you guys doing?"

* * *

_Fang_

Iggy, Gazzy, Angel, and Valencia were sitting around a small fire and Gazzy was… speaking? But in my voice. Perfectly my voice. What was with that?

"What are you guys doing?" Max says, annoyed.

"Oh! Max! Fang! You're here! We were getting tired of waiting," Angel exclaimed, coming to give us a hug.

"So you decided to wait here instead of looking for us," Max's glare was terrifying.

"Well, Iggy couldn't track you," Angel protested.

"He could've tried to track Fang!" Max yells indignantly, "Instead of playing whatever."

"Gazzy can do imitations," Iggy smiles up at us.

"Sorry, honey," Valencia rubs Max's shoulder soothingly.

"Well we thought it would be better if we waited for you guys instead of running around and getting more lost," Gazzy told us. In Max's voice.

"Stop that!" Max hisses, "How could you guys get lost anyways? You have the map."

"True," Angel, Gazzy and Iggy say at the same time.

* * *

_Max_

It was hard to sleep. Mainly because my leg still hurt and the ground was uncomfortable, but also because my mind wouldn't shut up. It sounded like a voice was in my head.

_Angel? Is that you?_

_No, idiot,_ the voice said. Angel looks up, groggy from sleep, "What is it Max?"

"Oh, nothing."

I'm going crazy. I blink up at the ceiling, it looked like there were tiny red stars in the sky. They were spaced out somewhat evenly and it looked like someone was watching us. I roll over and shut my eyes.

"_Who are you?" I scream into the dark._

_My answer was a cackling laugh. Then there was a piercing pain all over my body. There were a thousand needles digging into my skin. My wings felt like they were being ripped out of my body._

"_Stop!" my voice seemed hoarse._

_And then I'm falling._

"_Hi, Fang," I smile at the dark haired boy. He had freckles back then, and a cute pink smile. I'd convinced him this morning that lipstick protected your lips from germs. I couldn't stop laughing._

"_What's so funny?" he asks in annoyance. _

"_Your- your l-lips," I laughed so hard no sound came out. Tears were coming out of my eyes._

"_Max! You tricked me!" he tackles me to the ground. He grins evilly while pinning me down._

"_Nooooo!" I giggle as he tickles me, "Stop it! Stop it!"_

_And then my screams turned high-pitched and desperate, "No! Stop it! Fang! Where are you?"_

"Fang! Where are you?" I scream, sitting up.

"Huh? What's up?" Fang asks. I didn't realize he was next to me. Right next to me. Our thighs were pressed up together and his face was inches from mine.

"Oh, nothing," I smile weakly, shifting away from him.

"It didn't sound like nothing," he says with concern and then he smirks, "You sleep talk a lot. And you drool in your sleep."

I glare, "I liked you better when you didn't talk so much."

"Hey! Who's there?"

* * *

Okay, short chapter sorry.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15- The Village

So, it's been a while and I've watching The Suite Life on Deck lately, listening to Teen Idle by Marina and the Diamonds and obsessing over my first semester grades because I want a new phone. There's my excuse.

And plus I wasn't exactly sure what to do for this chapter and I let it sit for a while.

Oh, feel free to tell me who you think is about to come.

R&R.

* * *

_Max_

"Hey! Who's there?" a voice boomed. Everyone woke up, alert. I instinctively shifted into a defensive stance but I forgot I was still tangled in Fang. I jumped away from him.

A flickering light grew closer and closer to where we were. I held my breath and I felt the group bristle nervously.

"You there!" a tall muscled man wearing only a pair of gray trousers appeared. He had blue paintings that resembled mine on his arms and cheeks, but not on his forehead. He held a spear threateningly at us, a strand of blond hair flopping over his pale gray-blue eyes. He had toned muscles. There was a hardness about him that made him look shifter, definitely someone who worked all his life. And the way he dressed and held himself was also native to the Felhor Caverns. Maybe… It seemed like it.

I hold up my hands, and lift my bangs from my eyes, "We're shifters as well."

His eyes widen at my markings and then in confusion at Fang and Iggy, "Your Grace," he bows low, "But- are they your prisoners, Your Excellency?"

I smirk, "Yes, and you would be…?"

"Dylan of the Graywing clan, Your Grace," he answers, "Will you do me the honor of escorting you to our village?"

I smile at them and then at Dylan, "Thanks. Food would be good."

"Your Grace," he implores as we walk, "What brings you to the Felhor Caverns?"

"We were looking for survivors," I explain. I gesture towards Gazzy, "My friend comes from the Canopy Hills by Cardinal West. He explained how Felhor Caverns would be the ideal place for survivors near Cardinal West to hide. It seemed the ideal place to start looking. But we needed to look for the Cardinal West himself first. Can you tell me if Cardinal Ceferino came here?"

"No, Your Grace," Dylan says in surprise, "No one has come here since the four newcomers who arrived during the Queen's purge."

"Could I see them? Maybe they have information."

"Yes, Your Grace."

I roll my eyes, "Okay, that's enough. The rest of them call me Max. You can too."

"Of course, Your- Max."

I smile. We're going to get along.

* * *

_Fang_

Who does this Dylan guy think he is? Max hardly said one word to me since he showed up. Of course, he thinks we're Max's prisoners. That was also uncalled for.

I take a deep breath to calm myself. It's nothing, he's just a shifter. They all like Max. She's the last Cardinal left. Most likely anyways.

Iggy pounced on my left shoulder, laughing, "What's up with you huffing and puffing, Fang? Jealous of the bat boy?"

"Jealous of what?" I scowl.

"The attention he's getting from Max," he shoves me. I growl and shove him back.

"Why should I care?"

"Who knows, but you do care," he smiles.

"Since when did you become a girl?" I joke.

"I could ask you the same question," his lip quirks up. He jumps up and whoops, "Hey bat boy! Are we there yet?"

Max and Dylan turn around. Dylan wears a scowl and Max grins as if proud. I swear I heard Dylan mutter, "Are your prisoners always this liberal?"

"Come on, let's have a little fun with our tour guide, huh?" Iggy pulls me and Gazzy away from the group.

"Hey! Fang! Iggy! Gazzy! Where are you going?" Angel called. Valencia shakes her head and keeps Angel on track.

"What are you thinking?" I say is a hushed whisper to Iggy.

"You'll see."

* * *

_Max_

Graywing Village was amazing. Their houses were built into the stone, hanging off the rock like natural formations. It was lit by natural bioluminescent rocks. Dylan's bare feet were a quiet pitter patter. Fang, however, even with his heavy human boots was completely silent. Strange.

"Wow, Max, look!" Angel shouts.

"Whoop, don't talk too loud," Dylan smiles, naturally taking care of her, "You might cause a cave in."

"Whoops," Angel giggles, her hands covering her smile.

"Wow," I whisper.

In the center of the village was a giant formation, it glowed and warmed! It surprised me. Bats weren't supposed to like light. Right? I jumped into a bat form and then regretted it. Through bat eyes, the light blinded. I fell to the ground in human form, rubbing my eyes.

"Max, you're a pretty new Cardinal aren't you?" Dylan comments.

"How did you know?" I asked, still a little stunned.

"If you knew all your forms perfectly, you'd know that we can only be bats out of the village. In here, the light helps support our 'human' form."

"Oh," was all I could say. Was I really that naïve?

"Come on, I'll take you to our chief," Dylan said, pulling us along.

"Wait, Max!" Angel called, "Fang and them are-"

Realization dawned on me, "Where did they go? When did they disappear?"

"A while back, I was going to tell you but then we got here…"

BOOM!

My attention was dragged back to the village. A cloud of smoke erupted one of the houses and three figures sprinted out.

I turned into a hawk again and flew towards them, diving down in a flurry of feathers.

"Woah!" Iggy shouted as I landed in front of them, dissolving into my human form.

"Yes, woah," I raise my eyes to glare at them, "What was that?"

"Um, um," Iggy worked to swallow, "Um, it was Gazzy's idea."

"What? No! It was Fang's idea," Gazzy pushes Fang towards me.

I tap my foot and he matches my glare with his unfathomable stare.

"As exciting as your little staring contest is, we should really be going so…" Iggy and Gazzy try to sneak past me and I grab their collars.

"You guys are in so much trouble."


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16- Meet the Graywings

Okay, it's been a little more than a while since I've been on here but I've been grounded for a long time. I still don't have my computer back. I'm just using it and I thought why not update my story. I'm sorry.

Anyways, this is supposed to be a pretty exciting chapter if only I could remember what I wanted this to be about. I'll probably edit this chapter later but this is pretty much it now.

* * *

_Max_

"What were you guys thinking?" I scream, releasing Iggy's ear and Gazzy's elbow. Iggy, being only human, stumbled from the force of my slight push and fell to the ground, nursing his ear.

"Relax, Max, we were only having a little fun," Fang grins cheekily.

I glare at him and he looks down, muttering a sorry.

"We're going to stay here for a while so you guys had better start treating these people nicer! We can't get kicked out of here!"

"We're not going to get kicked out anyways, you're the Cardinal!" Iggy protests.

"That doesn't mean we can take advantage of them like that! Besides they're wary of humans, and you guys are supposed to be my prisoners. You better get in line!" I smirk.

Iggy and Fang exchange a _look_.

"I'm serious," I growl and they stand, single file as I lead them back to Mom, Angel and Dylan. Dylan gives Iggy and Fang a dirty look. I don't do anything. They deserved it.

Dylan turns from them without saying a word, "May I, Your Grace?" He holds out the crook of his elbow for me. I roll my eyes and take it. He leads us down the path toward the center of the city, pointing out that the growth on the cave walls did whatever and whoever lived over there by the stream and they were important for some reason. The giant light source in the middle was to serve as blah blah blah and the importance of etiquette here were held in high standard and when meeting the High Chief whats-his-name I should curtsy but maybe not because I'm the Cardinal in which case he'll bow to me and rules upon rules upon rules.

"He's as bad as Nudge," Iggy comments. Whoever this Nudge person is, I can't imagine they can talk as much as Dylan can. It was driving me crazy.

I was saved when we finally came to the source of the life. Apparently, the high chief lived inside there. See? I did learn something from Dylan's droning.

"This is where the High Chief's advisors meet," Dylan says. Oh, so not where the High Chief lives.

They must have been expecting us because the doors swung open at that exact moment.

* * *

_Fang_

I blinked.

"You want me to do what?" I ask again, incredulous.

"Take off your clothes and put on the robe," the bat man **A/N- I didn't do that on purpose, promise** repeats himself calmly, a thin gray-white robe folded neatly on his outstretched hand. I looked around. They were only making Iggy and I do this. I guess they trusted the others enough to let them wear their own clothes.

"That's ridiculous! Why?" I half-shout.

"Just do it, Fang," Max says condescendingly. Iggy was already happily putting on his new clothes. I roll my eyes and turn around, pulling off my dirty tunic and pants and wrapping the robe around me, tying it tightly.

"It's because I'm human, isn't it?" I protest.

"It is actually," Max replies.

"Isn't that racist," my eyebrows furrow.

"Says the one who's mom s-" she stops herself, looking away.

"Slaughtered almost all of the shifter race," I finish for her, seeing the guilt in her stance.

"Fang, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that," she turns back to me, trying to reach out to me but I keep myself at a distance.

No, she shouldn't have said that, but it didn't make it any less true. My mom did a terrible thing and Max knows it wasn't my fault. But there's a little part of her that hates me because of what my mom did.

I put on a blank mask, shutting all emotion out.

"Fang, please, I didn't mean it," she half begs, but not completely because the great Cardinal Maximum Ride never begs. We walk down the hall, following the others who ignore us. I looked up; it was a long way to the meeting room. This is going to be the worst ten minutes of my life.

"You did though." I don't look at her.

"I didn't mean for it to slip out," she corrects herself.

"It's the same thing. Even if you didn't say it, you thought it."

Max's eyes are tired, pleading, sad, "Fang."

"Max."

"Fang, look at me."

I don't.

"Look at me."

I still don't.

"Fang!" Max pulls my arm so I'm facing her, and she rose up on her toes so her eyes are level with mine, "I'm sorry, Fang."

My eyes dart away, feeling her warm breath against my cheeks, "Fine."

"Good, so we're okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay." _As okay as we ever could be_. But I didn't say it. She heard it anyways.

* * *

_Max_

I try to block out Fang. But I feel so guilty.

"Your Grace!" A voice calls to me. It's Dylan's.

I raise my eyes to see. The High Chief stands in the doorway, the entire structure pulses with a cool light. He was possibly the last clan leader in the entire shifter existence. He stood with a certain strength though, a tired old strength but it was there. He had blonde hair, thinned now and almost white. His blue eyes are unsettling and wise, almost piercing into my soul. They scanned our group and landed on Fang, his lip curling in disgust. And then Dylan steps up next to the High Chief. My brain rushed to make connections and as the High Chief's hand came down on Dylan's shoulder, it's clear. Dylan is the son of the High Chief.

The High Chief made some connections of his own because his lips shifted to form three words filled to the brim with hate, "The Human Prince."

* * *

_There you have it everyone. Like or dislike? Please submit your reviews in the lovely box down below. _


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17- The Last Tunnel

_So I'm planning on writing a lot for this chapter but I'm not sure because I always write these before I write the actual chapter and yeah. It's spring break and I really should've updated sooner but I was finishing up an old TV show that I stopped watching in the middle of the school year and I finally finished it and it makes me cry so much and I feel so inadequate watching it but still. I also started watching AmazingPhil and danisnotonfire on youtube so that waspretty distracting too. So enjoy._

* * *

_Fang_

"The Human Prince," the Chief says in disgust.

Oh joy, yet another human-hater.

"What's he doing here?" he says to Max.

Max rolls her eyes, "Because he can help. Now, moving on, I believe that there's four people here that may have information for me."

"Right, Your Grace," the Chief says. He turns to a guard, "Summon the guests."

Shifters then, I guessed. If they were guests and not prisoners, they would have to be guests.

"Why is the human here anyways?" Dylan spoke up.

"The human's got a name," I growl.

Max looks like she's about to answer but she doesn't. Instead she looks at me in question, "Why _are_ you here?"

I can't stop the flash of hurt that shows through for just a second.

"Wait, I didn't mean that I didn't want you here," she laughs, "I just meant why are _you_ here?"

I shrug, "I don't have anywhere else to go, my mom's got a death sentence placed on your head, I'm interested in helping. Iggy's here to help me." Iggy takes this as a cue to jump on my back and whoop in agreement.

Max looks at me for a second before turning back to Dylan, "And there you have it."

Dylan scowls and the doors burst open.

* * *

_Max_

"Your Grace, may I introduce Star, Kate, Holden and Ratchet," the Chief gestures to a group of raggedly dressed, obviously worn-out shifters. They start to kneel when they see me.

"Stop it, get up," I say, mildly annoyed, "I'm Max, that's Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, my sister Angel and my mother. How long have you guys been here?"

They get up.

"Two weeks maybe," Kate replies, flinging her dark glossy hair back. Then she adds a hasty, "Your Grace."

I roll my eyes, "Don't call me that. What kind of shifters are you all?"

"I'm a tiger," Kate said, "Star's a pronghorn antelope, Holden's a starfish, and Ratchet's an owl."

I nod, scanning them over. Kate was their obvious leader and Ratchet seemed almost protective of her, guarding over her. Holden looked younger and Star had an obvious disdain for her clothing and everyone else's clothing.

"Tell me how you got here. How did you all get together?" I ask, curious.

"Because we're all so different?" Star speaks up and Kate shoots her a look.

"I was hunting when I almost killed Star," Kate laughs, "She's been traveling with Holden since the purge and Ratchet ran into us when we were traveling through the Hurclen Forest. We hid here when we were trying to get to Cardinal West for help and instead found the city being attacked." Her face turned somber when she talked about the purge.

And Fang chose the perfect time to step out from behind me.

* * *

_Fang_

Let's take 30 seconds to enjoy three shifters lunging at me in slow motion and shouting profanities as they're about to kill me for being the son of the Queen.

It was Kate that saved me, Max just looked amused.

"Stop it," Kate shushes them, "No fighting."

Ratchet looks murderously at me. Great, I have an owl trying to kill me. I feel Iggy and Gazzy come up behind me. Holden goes to back Ratchet up.

"Okay, stop," Max looks between Ratchet and me and glares. "We're probably the only shifters left; let's try not to lower that number."

"She's right," Kate says, pulling Ratchet and Holden behind her, "We've got bigger problems."

"So," Max says, "Do you guys know anything about the Caverns?"

"Not really," Kate says.

"What about the Forbidden Mountains?"

"No-," Kate begins but Ratchet speaks up.

"There's the legend that there's a tunnel under the Mountains," Ratchet says, "Leading from Felhor Caverns to the Unknown lands."

I look at Max, "What's that?"

* * *

_Max_

I turn my head to look at him, channeling the thought "how stupid are you?" It's not just a shifter legend. The Unknown lands are unknown to everybody. Are humans so stupid that they think the whole world exists on the little peninsula that we live on? No one's ever crossed the Forbidden Mountains and came back. Throughout time, the Unknown lands have evolved from being a barren hostile land to the Heaven where everyone thinks they're going to after they've died. No one knows for sure, and no one who's gone there has ever come back.

Gazzy whispers something in his ear and Fang's expression turned from annoyance to a frustrated realization.

"Gazzy, give me the map," I say. He hands it to me and I give it to Ratchet, tracing the last tunnel with my pointer finger, "Do you mean this one?"

"Yeah, but it's been sealed off, or that's what they say." That's it then. It's official.

"We need to find out."

* * *

I filled them in with the Itex, the Exemplar Facultas, and our plan. The Chief was so kind to provide us with an empty house that someone had died in and no one moved in since. It was a little creepy but we had nowhere else to stay and I did _not_ want to go to run into another guardian. I was sharing a room with Angel and mom, the boys were staying in another room and Kate, Star, Holden and Ratchet stayed in the kitchen/dining/living room thing. They claimed they were comfortable but I didn't think so.

I couldn't sleep. The bed was comfy enough but my mind wouldn't stop working. I got up and tried to sneak out of the house.

"Going somewhere, Cardinal?" came a low voice behind me. I whirl around to find Fang leaning against the doorway.

"No, I couldn't sleep," I explain and he nods, falling in step with me.

I didn't _ask_ you to walk with me, I thought.

"I can't either," he says.

We walk in silence for a long time. The sharp stones prodded at my feet. The lights in the village were dimmer at night.

You'd think it'd be really quiet in a cave but it isn't. After a while you start to hear the water dripping and the soft pitter-patter of little animals or rodents and what-not. And you hear the hum of the earth.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" Fang asks.

"Look for the tunnel, I guess. It's our only shot of survival. Do you honestly think we can stay here forever?"

"Of course not."

"We're coming back, I promise. We'll see what's there and come back for your sisters, okay?"

"Yeah, but Max, no one knows what's out there. We could be killed."

"Then that's a risk I'm willing to take. If you're really willing to help me, you can come too."

He looks at me with such intensity I'm almost trembling, "I'm coming with you, Max," he says finally, "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Oh joy," I say sarcastically and smile to let him know I'm joking.

"Come on, let's go back."

* * *

_PLEASE READ AND ANSWER MY QUESTIONS. IT'S SO DISTRESSING!_

_Also, have any of you accidentally saw that one trailer for THE PURGE on youtube? I'm afraid to watch it but I'm extremely curious so someone tell me if it's all that scary so I can go watch it. And I realized that I called it the Queen's purge in this story so I'm a bit scared._

_So Star's not a cheetah because I decided that would be too predictable. Did anyone see them coming? I didn't. I just decided to do this because I went over my story and decided I needed to tie up some plotholes. I realize because I don't read back on my story that often and don't update daily, there's more plot holes and stuff that generally doesn't make sense. For example, Exemplar Facultas, Cardinal West, and the four people that came to the Graywing village. So there it is: Fang's gang people. I had to do actual research for this and as much as I wanted to avoid any of Fang's gang being birds, Ratchet's powers only applied to owls. So yeah. There it is. Owls can be macho. And protective of Kate. And I couldn't resist the Holden's starfish thing. And plus, there's a lot of grammatical errors due to my lack of editing. I don't remember what chapter it is now, but I'm too lazy to go back and change it. It says "Why way" instead of "Which way" or "What way." I apologize for that. Anyone knows that?_

_So, tell me what you think in the little box below the story and I will try to update soon._


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18-The Unknown

Here it is. I got this really good inspiration for this chapter while I was sleeping on the bus so enjoy.

* * *

_Max_

"We have to leave today," I said to the Chief, "I'm sorry and we're really thankful that you let us stay here but we have to go."

"Alright, Your Grace, but please take my son as a guide and these," the Chief reached behind him to a small desk beside his big one and opened a drawer. The objects glowed with a light that seemed to pulse, just like their giant light. It was six small orbs made out of the rock.

"Thank you," I say and turn to leave and I hear Dylan following me out of the office. I gestured to my Flock, and they grabbed their bags. I tossed a stone to Mom, Angel, Fang, Holden, and Kate and kept one for myself, "Dylan's coming with us," I explained.

Fang scowled and so did Iggy. They exchanged a few words and I rolled my eyes. They're always so secretive about something.

* * *

_Fang_

"Dylan's coming with us?" Iggy whispers in shock.

"Yeah," I growl.

"When are you going to tell her?" he asks.

I give him a look, "Tell her what?"

"That you like her, of course. Don't you?"

"Yeah, but-"

Iggy interrupts, "You're going to tell her because bat boy over there is chasing her too."

"How can you tell?"

"I'm in love with your sister, remember?" he grins cheekily, "I can tell. Now tell her before it's too late."

"But I don't know how," I protested.

"You're Fang, Prince Nicholas. You've had so many women fall at your feet before. It's not like you're completely innocent," he rolled his eyes.

"But it's _Max_, she's a _shifter._ What if she says no?"

"Are you getting worried? That's a bad sign. You've got it _baad."_

"I do not!"

"Sure you don't." Iggy skips off to Gazzy, leaving me there frustrated.

* * *

_Max_

_I'm standing in a dimly-lit room, the floor is carpeted in dark green velvet and the walls were paneled with sound-proofing powder stone, painted to look like teak. In the center of the room is a single desk, with neat folders all stacked in their place. _

_In a flurry of ravens, the human Queen appears, flashing an evil pointed smile at me._

"_Did you really think that I'd let you run off with my son?" she asks, sneering. She walked a circle around me and I'm frozen where I stand so I can't fight back. Her long talons of fingers dug into my shoulder as she inspected me, "Who are you really? I understand that silly Jeb passed on the Cardinalship to you and you lead the silly band of survivors who hope to oppose me but I don't think you understand that I always win. I see everything you do. I hear every thought you have. And who are you to deserve all this? I was ready to ignore you when my dear son asked of it but now it would seem that I have no choice._

"_I don't think you arrogant shifters understand. Itex rules everything. It is the god of this world, the creator," she laughs without humor, "And you are expendable. Especially you, Maximum Ride. And I will not let a stupid little shifter get in the way of me and my mission. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"_

"_Make me," I spit out._

_She snarls, her lip curling, "I am the queen. The only queen! The only ruler of this world. And I can see every move everyone makes. You will not win this, Maximum Ride! And you will not have my son. You are nothing but a shifter WHORE!"_

"_Funny, coming from you. There's rumors how you've become queen," I smirk. That's a lie, I've heard nothing about the queen._

"_You think you're so much better, well, that shows how intelligent shifters are. Shifters come from humans, NOT the other way around!"_

_I suck in a breath. "What do you mean?" I ask haltingly._

_She smiles, thinking she's won, "You'll see. You are free to leave."_

"_Wha-what do you mean?" I ask, but the room is already fading._

"_Another thing, my dear. Stay away from my son." _

I jolt awake, my eyes searching the dark and I reach into the bag and take out a stone. When the light cast over the group, I saw Fang's face inches from mine, his eyes closed in drowsiness. I jumped back and accidentally woke him. He opened his dark eyes groggily.

"Max?" he murmured. And then he scrambled to his feet, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I tell him, brushing away my hair from my eyes.

"Did you have another dream?" he guessed.

Damn. How did he know? "No," I lied again.

"You're lying," he said again.

I look up at the cave ceiling, avoiding his dark eyes boring into my skull. And I noticed the little red dots again. What did she mean by she can see everything? And why did I dream her saying that shifters come from humans?

"Tell me, Max," he urges in his dark rumbling voice.

"Why should I?"

"Just tell me, I can help."

_Remember, darling. I can see EVERYTHING._

I study his eyes. She can see everything. She can see everything. How can she see everything? How could she- except Fang. I look at him sharply, "Are you your mother's spy?"

He recoiled. He looked at a loss for words for a second, his mouth flapping open and closed, "Why would you think that?"

"She can see everything. I dreamed about her. She knows where we are and she's threatened," my voice rises a little, "How can she know that?"

"Think about it, Max," Fang says hushed, "How could I contact her from here? You're being silly."

"Am I? You're human; you grew up to hate me."

"Max, I don't hate you."

"Prove it."

He struggled with his composure for a second and then he closed the gap between us, his arm wrapping around my shoulder and he pulled me closer. His face was an inch away from mine, his breath warm against my lips and then his lips are there in its place, slightly moist as he kissed me desperately. His hands slid down to my waist, holding me against him and even though I'm stronger, I suddenly can't move. Instinctively, my lips moved with his and my arms slid around his neck. I backed up until I felt the wall of the cave behind me. My hand traced his smooth muscles of his upper arm and I sighed a little against his lips. We were pressed so tightly against each other, I gasped for breath. After what it felt like hours, we broke apart, breathing heavily.

"You understand now, Max? I don't hate you. At all. I actually rather like you," he smiles nervously.

I smiled, so happy that I couldn't say anything and his face falls. He lets me go abruptly and backs up. One of his hands goes to his hair and the other found support against the wall. I stare at his back confusedly as he walks away.

* * *

Fang's ignoring me. I don't understand why. We were great last night. He likes me. He doesn't hate me. He's not working for the Queen. But now,everything's wrong. Why?

"Hey," Gazzy said, popping up from behind me.

"Yeah?" I asked and Angel appears from nowhere to sit on my lap.

"Hi, Max," she says brightly.

"What are you two doing?" I ask suspiciously.

"Nothing," Angel says, giggling.

"Great, now I know something's up."

"No, honest," Gazzy pipes up, "Nothing's going on. We're just excited to see the tunnel. Aren't you?"

"Yeah...," I say, sighing in exhaustion, "I'm ecstatic."


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19- Anrytor

I completely forgot about this so I apologize. Also, I'm seeing the Great Gatsby in 45 minutes so I'm excited and I need to finish this quickly so I can see the movie and finish this before I don't feel like doing anything for the rest of the weekend. I also spent the past hour and a half planning the rest of the story so there's probably going to be about 11 or 12 more chapters and a sequel because I'm just that dedicated.

Enjoy.

* * *

_Max_

The last tunnel doesn't look much different from all the other tunnels of the cave but it almost feels different. It almost hums with something. I look up and notice the red dots on the ceiling. There's more here and they almost form constellations on the ceiling.

"Max," Dylan comes up from behind me to walk beside me. He smiles sheepishly as he almost trips over a rock.

"What is it?" I ask, still a little bit tired. Fang was avoiding me and it was annoying me.

"I need to talk to you about something," he says a little hesitantly.

"Spit it out," I say a lot harsher than I meant to. I was irritated from lack of sleep and everything going on. Of course I'm going to be irritated.

"Well… I was wondering, why are _they _here?" he gestures to Fang and Iggy with a look of annoyance on his face. Fang scowls right back and Iggy says something to him that calms him. "Why are the humans with us? We could've just thrown them back in the cells at my village."

"You really are slow aren't you?" I snort and look at him exasperatedly, "They aren't really my prisoners."

"Then why are they here?" he asks louder and mom, Gazzy and Angel turn back to look at us. I wave at them to tell them to go on.

"They're here because they want to," I reply simply.

"But they're human," he protests.

"So what?" I ask, getting really frustrated now, "So what if they're human? They haven't done anything to us. If you have a problem with them, just _leave_! Why are you with us anyways?"

"Because, Max, even if you can't see it, I care about you!" Dylan matches my tone but a certain amount of hurt shines in his eyes.

"I don't care! If you can't accept my choice of companions just go back to the village," I shake my head in aggravation, "You know what? It doesn't matter. Go back to your village and don't follow us!"

He's silent and stops walking. "Max," he whispers sadly.

"Just go," I say low and dangerously.

He turns and leaps into the air, turning in midair.

I huff out a breath and Kate comes up to me, smiling. "You finally got rid of bat boy," she congratulates me.

"Yeah, finally," I glare at the opening in front of us.

"You know, Fang is happy about that," she comments.

I turn to her, "What about Fang? Why would he care?"

She looks surprised, "You really can't see it, can you?"

"See, what?"

Kate opens her mouth to answer but is cut off by Gazzy shouting back at us, "Hey, Max! We're about a mile away from the end of the tunnel."

"Gre-!" I start to say but a terrible, cacophonous shrieking sound erupted from all around. All of us shifters cover our ears but Iggy and Fang doesn't seem to hear it. It shakes the walls of the cave. It's persistent noise. We crumple to the ground but then they're okay and stand up. I can still here it somehow.

"Max! Max!" They say muffily and then the world spins and fades away from my sight.

* * *

_Fang_

I ran up to catch Max in her fall.

"Wait, you guys, can you hear that?" Iggy asks and we look around. There were barks echoing off the walls.

"Wolves," Star says, her animal instinct taking over and I saw her legs shuddering, preparing to run.

Paws pound at the ground and makes the ground shake.

"Run!" I scream, carrying Max in my arms.

"Gazzy! Iggy! Collapse the walls!" I shout to them.

"How?" Iggy shouts back.

"Just think of something! Just get everybody to safety and make a wall from us and the wolves. Do it now!"

Valencia, Angel and Holden were flying ahead of us quickly, Star turns quickly and Holden in his shifter from holds tightly to her neck, she scoops me and Max up as Kate picked up Iggy and Gazzy. Iggy looked overjoyed to be riding a tiger.

The wolves sounded like they were getting closer. I could physically see them now if I looked back. I held onto Max tightly. Her eyes were closed and peaceful, unaware of everything going on around her.

Iggy holds out a small black object in his hand and Gazzy lit a match. Iggy throws the object into the ceiling.

"Everybody cover your ears!" he shouts.

There's a slight pause, almost like the calm before a storm and then the object explodes, the walls tumbling around it. The wolves skid to a stop but I hear the yelp of one as it was buried in the debris. Star slows and drops me. I stop to catch my breath, holding up a hand to Iggy as he high-fives it. "Good job," I pat him on the back.

The wolves linger at the wall a little bit and I can hear their muffled cries. There's a shuffling and then they turn back.

Max stirs slightly, her head moves and her eyelids flutter.

Her eyes are unfocused as she says, "She knows we're here and she's threatened."


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20- Abandon all Hope, ye who enter here

The Great Gatsby was amazing but right now I hate Daisy more than anything and anyone- fictional or real-. I didn't know it was possible to hate someone this much but it turns out I can.

Anyways, I felt like writing another chapter because I felt like the last one was too short and I need to clear things up. Also, I have a pounding headache and I needed something other than watching Pat Pattison tell me that I don't have six best friends to occupy my time.

Enjoy.

* * *

_Max_ _(This is during the time of Fang's last POV)_

_Suddenly, they're all shouting my name. Fang rushes to me and then I see myself. My face is scrunched in pain, my hands over my ears. Fang's carrying me and I'm limp in his arms. There's muffled shouting and I look behind us to see a pack of large grey wolves chasing us. Then I'm being pulled away. I can feel it myself tethered to my physical body. _

_A black smoke rises next to me and the Queen appears. She's laughing. "Oh, darling Maximum Ride," she sneers, "Can't you see how hopeless your situation is?"_

_I look around and I see my friends running, but there was still a good distance between them and the wolves. I shrug at the Queen, "Not really."_

_She scowls and I'm suddenly reminded of Fang's scowl, "I'm the Queen and I'm NOT just going to let you destroy my Realm."_

"_Oh, sorry, we'd better back off now that we don't have your permission," I roll my eyes, "What have you got to do with this? Honestly, just stop wasting your energy because you KNOW that we're going to get out of here whether you like it or not."_

_I can feel her anger radiating off of her like a wave and suddenly, I'm choking. _

_Her lips don't move but I can feel her talking in my head. She's roaring, "MAXIMUM RIDE, I AM THE QUEEN OF THE REALM. SEE THOSE WOLVES? I SUMMONED THEM. I'M CONTROLLING THEM. YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO HOPE OF SURVIVAL."_

_There's a giant boom and the walls shudder, stone piling down between us. She shrieks in indignation and then I'm being pulled back into my body._

I don't see the red dots here. I search the ceiling confusedly. Then I manage to choke out, "She knows we're here and she's threatened."

"What?" They all ask in unison.

I sit up and cough a little, my throat a little raw from being choked even if it was spiritually, "She's been coming to me in my dreams. Just now I saw her. She sent the wolves after us."

They all look at me like I grew a second head. Fang finally speaks, "You mean my mother?"

I nod, rubbing my throat.

"WHAT?" they ask again.

"That's getting creepy," I tell them as I grab our stuff, "But I don't think she can reach us here. There aren't any red lights here and she doesn't seem to be able to get through the wall. She disappeared when you guys brought that down. Good job by the way. Gazzy, how long do we have to go?"

My little crew of misfits is just staring at me. I snap my fingers in their general direction, "Hello, can you not process? We have to get out of here. Gazzy, how much longer?"

Gazzy shakes his head and out of his daze (thank goodness) and replies, "About 300 feet or so."

"Great," I hook a bag over my shoulder, "Let's go."

After they realized we can't go back, my pack **A/N That's what I'm going to start calling them **decided to actually move.

It's eerily quiet in the last couple hundred feet of the last tunnel. There are no water sounds and no monsters coming at us. There isn't even that hum from the other parts of the cave. I feel a part of the walls. It doesn't even feel like stone. It almost feels like sponge. It's soft almost and gives when I put pressure on it.

"Um, Max?" Angel speaks up haltingly. I turn quickly to see what she was looking at. Mom quickly covered Angel's eyes.

I jog up next to them and the sight shocks me. There are skeletons. A small mountain of them. Some of them are animal, some are in the middle of shifting and some are all human.

"Are those- are those all from the wolves?" Iggy swallows hard.

"Probably, yeah," I reply, transfixed on the sight. Some stray bones are scattered by my feet and they look like they have bite marks on them. I snap out of it, "Right, that's a pleasant sight. Now let's go."

My pack murmured their agreement and turned away from the bones. How many people died here? How many people died thinking that they're going to reach salvation? What _is_ on the other side of the tunnel anyways?

* * *

_Fang_

Anti-climatically, the tunnel ended with a set of doors. The doors were made out of stone and had the Itex symbol repeated for times in the middle of the two doors.

"Ready?" Max asks, looking at all of us.

"Ready," I say and she looks at me, a mixture of emotions too jumbled up for my tired brain to understand all bundled in that one look.

She pulls the doors open and there's a blinding light. Then, I hear something.

It's _birdsong_.

What?

The light fades and Max looks at the stone in her hand. "Guess I won't be needing this anymore," and she throws it to the ground. I follow suit.

After my eyes adjusted, it turns out it was still pretty dim. We were under a bridge with a paved road running through the bridge.

"Hey! Watch out, you freaks!" a human man whips by on top of a contraption.

Max and her big temper sticks her hand out and grabs onto a handle of the contraption and the human falls off, "Who are you calling a freak, human?" she shouts in indignation.

"Chill out, bitch," the man dusts himself off and spits.

"Don't call her a bitch," I snarl, picking him up by the collar.

"Don't get your panties in a knot. She's the one who ripped me off my bike!"

"Where are we?" Max commands.

"The moon. Where the hell do you think you are? We're in Central Park, New York City!"

I let him go and he gives us a dirty look before riding off on his ridiculous red machine or "bike" as he called it.

"Where the hell is Central Park, New York City?" Max muses.

And that wasn't even the biggest surprise today. We walked through "Central park" and almost got ran over by bikes, large yellow horse-less carriages with really rude people inside of them yelling profanity at us, and black platform like things with wheels at the bottom.

When we got out of Central Park, we saw buildings that reached into the clouds.

"What is this place?" Kate breathes at the same time Gazzy and Angel says, "We're hungry!"

* * *

_Max_

"Okay, let's get some food!" I say brightly and my tummy rumbles in agreement.

I followed my nose to a silver box with several pieces of meat on them. I smiled and reached for one.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" the human standing next to the box says.

"Summoning elephants with my magical powers. I'm eating, leave me alone."

"You have to pay for that. And you can't eat hot dogs alone. You need bread and ketchup and relish and mustard."

Hot dogs? What? That sounds repulsive. Well, if he's offering us that much food, it'd be rude to refuse. I reached for the bread and the "ketchup and relish and mustard" too. He goes to slap my hands away and I take his hand and twist his wrist, stepping back and he falls to the ground with a loud 'oof'. This skill was acquired by courtesy of Jeb- who in the process of teaching me this almost broke my wrist ten times-.

"Thief! Help!" the man shouts. I look down at him and shrug, taking the food.

It wasn't until then that I noticed people running towards us.

I look towards the pack, "Run!"

* * *

We ended up in an alley way and I passed around the "hot dogs". You don't have a clue how difficult it was to carry ten hot dogs, bread and "condiments" with me while running.

"This is amazing," Angel says, her eyes going back into her head a little from pleasure. The pack murmurs in agreement.

"It's called a "hot dog"," I explain, "Disgusting name, right?"

"Where are you guys from? I don't know anywhere that doesn't have hot dogs." I turn to see a figure in the alley with us. I stand on guard, almost dropping the hot dog. Fang tenses next to me.

The figure steps out from the shadows. He's tall, has brown hair and green eyes and a lean build. His lips curve into a smirk, "Hi, I'm Sam."


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21- New York, New York

I think I've been updating a lot lately but I really want to finish this story.

In other news, I'm trying to remember what happened to me May 4th because it feels like an important date in my head but I have absolutely no record of what happened that day on any of my social networking sites or my dream diary so I'm a little creeped out.

Anyways, enjoy Chapter 21!

* * *

_Max_

"I'm Sam," he says and his smirk grows into a lop-sided grin as we stare at him blankly.

"You know, when people introduce themselves it's only polite to introduce yourself back," he pointed out and started pacing around me, "Where are you guys from anyways?"

His pacing unnerved me. I scowled, "That's none of your business."

He raises an eyebrow, "_Touchy_." He dragged out the word so it was more like three syllables instead of two, "I was just asking for your name, princess."

I studied his face. He didn't _seem_ evil. "I'm Max," I tell him and gestured to my pack as I introduced them respectively, "This is Fang, Iggy, Angel, my mother Valencia, Kate, Gazzy, Holden, Star and Ratchet."

Sam's eyes widen. "What a group you guys have there," he laughs, "So, who wants to share those hotdogs?"

Automatically, Angel and Gazzy hid their hot dogs behind their backs. Sam chuckles, "Joking, kiddos."

"Right, _Sam_," Fang says stiffly, "What do you want?"

"Just making friends, man," Sam raises up his hands palms facing up as if in surrender. Then he plops down to sit in our circle, "You guys came to my alley and you should be glad I'm feeling hospitable today. If you came three minutes ago Bruno would've ripped you into pieces."

"Who's Bruno?" Kate asks curiously, "And why do you think he can rip us into pieces?"

"Just a thug." What's a thug? And why are they threatening?

Sam looks at me incredulously. "Did I say that out loud?" I ask.

"You don't know what a thug is? Where _are_ you guys from? Outer space?"

"Where's outer space?" Holden bites into his hot dog, his eyes curious.

Sam shakes his head, "You guys seriously need help. Come on."

"Where?" I ask.

"Just follow me." I look around at my pack. They shrug and get up, following Sam.

* * *

_Fang_

"I don't trust him," I say through clenched teeth to Iggy.

"He's the only one we know here," Iggy reminds me.

"Have you seen the way he looks at Max?"

"Who brought up anything about Max?" Iggy grins.

"No one," I stammer quickly. He punches my right arm and I punch him back. Gazzy comes in between us to stop the fight and I pull him into a choke hold. He laughs and twists out of our grasp, almost shifting.

Max looks back and gasps, rushing over to us. "Stop," she whispers, "No shifting here. Humans rule here and shifting might be a mad idea."

"Fine," we all say. And then I see the giant Itex symbol.

* * *

_Sam_

Max is weird. I've decided that she's completely and utterly weird. Who doesn't know what hot dogs are? And when I brought out my phone to call JJ she just stared at it like it was alien or something. But still, she's extremely pretty. Her hair is a mess of gold and brown, curling over her eyebrows. And her brown eyes look like she's about to kill someone but for right now she's going to settle for cutting sarcasm and beating people up.

Still, I think I like her. Well I like her enough to take her to headquarters.

Let me clarify. I live in a little dump in New York City under a failing jazz bar. It was big in the 1930s-50s especially during Prohibition but now no one really listens to jazz. I've been living here since I was eight with my adopted sister JJ and my brother Flint. Flint left two years ago and I haven't seen him since. Most likely, he got caught up in the law or with his debts and got killed or something. Oh well, he was always kinda stupid. But I've been like this, living off the land and whatever for about ten years. We're street kids- me and JJ- and we're willing to do whatever to keep on living.

JJ's gonna kill me when she sees Max's gang.

Speaking of Max's gang, they were talking among themselves obviously suspicious about me. I unlock the gate and turn to the gang. "Welcome to my humble abode," I open my arms to welcome them in.

I turn on the light and it flickers on, highlighting the lime greenness of the wall and the spray paint decoration. I pull down a couple mats from a cupboard in the kitchen.

"If you guys are running, you can stay here for a while and JJ can get you a change of clothes," I look at their weird clothing. It looked like they were from the 1600s. The black haired guy was wearing a tunic. A tunic!

"What's wrong with our clothes?" Kate asks.

I smile, "Your clothes don't exactly fit in here. Also, it might be easier if you guys split up. A group of ten is pretty easy to spot. After my sister gets here she can take some of you to her boyfriend's apartment."

The black haired one looked angry, "Split up? Why the hell would we want to do that?"

"Chill," I laugh, "You can stay with your lover here."

The pale one laughed and muttered something like "I told you so" under his breath and the dark haired one smiled. What was his name? I'm sure Max mentioned it.

The gate jangled. "Honey, I'm home," JJ announced, carrying two brown bags.

She almost dropped them when she saw them. I grinned, "Sorry, I'm always bringing back strays, honey."

"You guys are siblings?" Max asks, one eyebrow raised.

I can tell why she's confused. JJ has red hair and I have brown. We have similar eyes though but they're completely different colors. And plus we don't really act like siblings.

"Not really, we're both orphans."

"Why are they here?" JJ asks, her fists clenched. She drops the bags on the kitchen counter.

"They're new here and they don't have anywhere to go and look how they're dressed! They'll be eaten alive here."

She studies them and tilts her head from one side to the other before shrugging, "You're right. Where did you pick them up? From the court of the Queen of England?"

"Right, who wants to go with JJ?" I turn to the gang.

* * *

_Max_

Kate, Holden, Star and Ratchet ended up going with JJ to her 'boyfriend's' apartment. What interested me more was what JJ came in with. The bags had the Itex symbol on them. It was strange. And while we were walking here there were several buildings and posters with the symbol on there. The symbol repeating four times.

"Lights out you guys, you're welcome to the showers and the bathroom. Max and Fang, if you're going to have sex, try to keep it down."

"Max," Fang said quietly. It was night time now but apparently the city never sleeps. The 'cars' were honking and there were traffic lights and everything.

"What is it?" I whisper, stretching out on the mat.

"Don't trust him," he says.

I pause, "Trust who?" I yawn, dreading this conversation.

"You know who I mean, Max," he scoots closer to me. Our faces are inches apart and suddenly I think of the night in the tunnels. He walked away from me.

"I don't think you have the right to say who I should and shouldn't trust," I snap, turning away from him. He pulls me so I'm sitting up and facing him.

"Look at me, Max," Fang tilts my head to face him, "I don't trust him."

I get an idea. I force a smile, "Fang?" I say softly and sultrily. I trace a finger down his arm and look up through my lashes. "I completely agree… that you're being jealous." I drop my arm and glare.

"I am NOT jealous!" he looks away.

"Shut up!" came a rousing chorus of sleepy shifters and human.


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22- Taste of Fun

Bertie Gilbert is so attractive. Just saying. He's that guy that plays Draco Malfoy's son in the last movie. Also, I'm watching the hangover at the moment so it might get a little out of hand.

Anyways, enjoy! I have 30 minutes to write this so let's hope it turns out.

* * *

_Sam_

"You know that giant hotel in Manhattan?" Iggy asks. He sat across from the small one, Gazzy. The rest of the gang was out exploring the town or what not. I'm not in charge of them. "I was thinking we could set up a couple of stink bombs in there, not a real one like the cave but just a couple to scare people and flush people out of there. It's too presumptuous of a place anyways."

"Yeah?" Gazzy lit a match and watched it die. I smirk, looks like we have a couple of pyros on my hands. I can work with that. They're going to have to earn their keep if they're staying here. We don't have all that much money to be supporting them too.

I step in there before they actually stink up the Ritz-Carlton. "Hey, I got a better idea for you guys. How about you help me with something?"

They jolt like I caught them doing something wrong. Which I had, but still. What did they think I was going to do? Kick them out? Max must be _really_ strict with them.

"Well?"

* * *

_Max_

"You're going out to do what?" I nearly screech. Iggy and Gazzy were dressed and had a large suspicious looking black draw-string bag.

"Hey, it's okay, princess," Sam touches my arm, giving me one of his easy laid-back smiles, "I'll take care of them."

"I still don't understand what you're doing though!" They said something about blowing up a bank. He crouches down in the kitchen and pulled something shiny, silver and jangling out.

"We're going to take back the money some people owe me; it's going to be fine," Sam explained, his smiles so boyish and wide that I felt impelled to trust him, "A bank is where the people keep my money. Iggy and Gazzy are just going to blow up a wall and help bring it back for me. You can even come and supervise if you want. I promise we won't get into any trouble."

I just glare at him for a little while longer until he stands up and takes my elbows, stepping close so I have to look up at him, "Trust me, Max."

I drop my glare and mock-sigh, "Fine."

"Thanks, princess, you won't regret this." And with that, they left.

* * *

_Iggy_

"Are you in place?" Sam's hushed whisper crackled over JJ's phone.

"Yeah, the bombs are all set up and everything," I reply, crouching behind a bush with Gazzy.

"How long before they-?" He didn't get to finish his sentence and there were screams and people were running out of there. One of them looked hurt and a couple had ash and grime splattered on the side of their body. I froze. Sam didn't say anyone was going to get hurt.

"Hey! What are you guys doing? Get up now!" Sam commanded. I swallowed and slowly forced my limbs to move. I ran for the gaping hole in the bank. Sam was already in there and Gazzy and I helped put the last of the stacks of bills into the bag.

"What took you guys so long?" he said harshly.

"You never told us anyone was going to get hurt!" I snap back.

"What did you expect? We were setting off _bombs_!" Sam glared and handed me a pair of dark sunglasses, "Now come on! Put this on and Gazzy pretend to guide him around."

We ran into the street and resumed walking like normal people but in my mind I was screaming. Fang said we shouldn't trust him. We just hurt people!

* * *

_Max_

"How was it?" I look up from Monopoly with Angel and Mom to grin at the boys coming home. Iggy and Gazzy just stomped past me and I looked over to Sam who just shrugged sheepishly.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"It's nothing, princess; just got into a little argument that's all. Come on, I want to talk to you," he walks into his room. I say a quick sorry to Angel and go in there with him. He flicks on the light and goes into the closet, rifling through the stuff and looking for something. I take a seat on the bed but my mind wanders to Iggy's disgusted expression and Fang's words last night.

"How about you go out with me tonight?" Sam interrupts my thoughts. He held something behind his back.

"Go out?" I furrow up my eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah, there's a club downtown that I think you'd like and maybe we could go dancing."

"Dancing?" No one's ever taken me dancing before.

"Don't tell me you don't know what that means, princess," he groans.

"No, I know what dancing is I just don't know how. No one's ever taken me dancing," I explain, a little embarrassed.

He looks shocked and drops the bundle to the ground behind him, taking my hands with his and rocking me back and forth, "I find that a little hard to believe. Are you coming or not?"

"Fine," I say, relenting.

"Great," he smiles brilliantly and picks up the bundle and unfurls it to reveal a somewhat revealing black and red dress.

* * *

What is this place? I could hear the music booming from the club from two streets over. There was a huge line trailing from the door to the edge of the street. A giant neon blue light said The Last Studio. I hear a wolf-whistle and turn to see a greasy looking guy try to wave me over.

"Hey, lay off!" Sam shouted back at him and the guy held his hands up in surrender.

I stop hesitantly before the club and Sam notices. "Don't worry about it," Sam grabs my hand and basically drags me inside, skipping the line with a nod to the large human at the front.

The music in here was deafening as were the people screaming. I got dragged to a tall counter and Sam pushed me gently down onto a high stool. He said something incoherent to the lady and she gave us a wink before setting two triangle shaped glasses in front of me.

"Drink up, princess." And so I did. And it tasted _awful_. It burned going down my throat but I choked it down and smiled. After about three of those I couldn't remember anything. I did remember a lot of dancing and Sam pulling me up from off the floor and laughing. I felt revulsion rising into my throat but laughed too.

Then I wound up in somewhere dark, the hard scratchy surface of a brick building against my back.

"Wow, princess, didn't know you were such an animal," Sam chuckled and I tensed, thinking he figured out I was a shifter.

"Am I?" I faked nonchalance.

"Yeah," he whispered and his hand came to my chin, lifting my head up. I could see the street lights reflected in the whites of his eyes and my eyes adjusted so I could see his face. I hummed under my breath, not sure what to reply.

It turns out I didn't need to because he kissed me. It was sort of sloppy and I could taste alcohol on his lips but I couldn't move away. He pulled away a little bit and looked at me.

"You're beautiful, Max," he whispered and I closed my eyes. He lifted my bangs off my forehead and my eyes flew open to see his confused face. Damn, he saw the markings.

"What are those?" he studied them and traced them with his finger like Fang did once upon a time, "Tattoos?"

"Um, yeah," I say, hoping that tattoos meant something that made sense.

He smiles, "You really are an animal, princess." And he kisses me again.

I laughed with him and then we heard sirens coming near us. Doors slammed open and closed and I looked towards the street were two officers were walking by.

"Act cool," he whispers to my ear and we meet the men half way.

"I'm Officer Jonathan Lewis and this is Officer Thomas," the tall one introduced us.

Sam snorted and didn't offer our names, his hand resting on my hip.

"Right," Jonathan said, "Well, we have a few questions for you, can you come with us?"

"No," Sam replied, looking Jonathan up and down coolly.

"There's not much of a choice," Thomas spoke up.

"Then ask away, officers," Sam slides down the wall into a sitting position and I follow his lead.

"There was a robbery around here at about 5:00 this afternoon," Jonathan explained, "Do you know what happened?"

"We're just kids out here having fun at night, we weren't here that early."

"How about you let the girl speak, Sam?"

"You know him?" I asked him quietly. Sam muttered back an unfortunately.

"What do you want to know, _sir_?" I look up at the officers innocently.

"Where were you guys around the time of the robbery?"

"Playing monopoly with my little sister," I tell the truth.

"Are you sure?"

I look at him incredulously, "No, actually, I think I was on the moon. Wait, wait, no, it's all coming back to me. I was in Bengali!"

"Feisty one, Sam," Jonathan murmurs but I heard him anyways.

I glared at him.

"Listen, officer, I'm tired and I want to go home, can you just let us go?"

"You're sure you don't know anything about this?"

"Positive," I bite back another retort.

I am going to kill Sam when we get home!


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23- New Knowledge

I'm feeling terrible you guys and right now you guys are going to be my outlet so enjoy the chapter.

* * *

_Fang_

"Hey, Fang," Angel says softly.

I turn to her and attempt to smooth out my glare. "Yeah, Angel?" I force a pleasant tone.

"This came for you," she drops a letter on the edge of my sleeping mat and backed off and I sigh. I pick up the paper and chuckle under my breath a little. She opened it and Valencia probably read it for her.

_To Fang, JJ said that since we don't have phones or whatever we have to write letters back and forth. JJ thinks I'm writing you a love letter and said I had terrible handwriting so that's completely unfair. I never went to school. Anyways I found out something very interesting and you could maybe pass the message along to Max. Also, the rest of the gang says hi. _

_Ratchet was looking through JJ's room who knows why. He found a couple notes and bags of white powder and when we searched it up, it turns out that's illegal. Also, I heard about a robbery at the bank. Iggy and Gazzy and Sam were in the newspaper! That's also illegal! They're criminals, Fang!_

_Kate_

I clench my teeth. Max was somewhere in downtown Manhattan with Sam right now. I grab a coat and run out to find them. It turns out I didn't need to because I heard Max's angry yelling and Sam's weak attempts at calming her. Tough luck, Sam, when she hears about this she's going to be even more furious.

* * *

_Max_

"What the hell was that, Sam? How did he know you? And why did you tell me that you can take money from banks legally?"

"I never told you that, princess. Calm down, I'll tell you the whole story, okay?"

I rip my arm away, "Don't call me princess," I growl.

"Okay, Max. I only know Jonathan because we ran into each other once and I didn't know he's a cop. He's sort of known in my circle," he lies actually pretty convincingly but I can see the little smirk in his eyes.

"Then what about the robbery?"

"It's not a robbery, they really do owe me money," he insisted and unlocks the basement door from the alley entrance.

"You're lying again, Sam! Tell me the truth now before I beat you!"

I whip around to see Fang leaning against a wall, his jacket on like he was going out. There was a soft smirk on his face and I stomped past him into the bathroom to change. This dress was ridiculous. Who seriously wears this in real life? I peel it off and throw it aside, desperately hoping that it landed in the trash or the toilet. No wonder Iggy was so upset! He robbed a bank!

I mutter a "don't" to both Fang and Sam waiting outside.

I sit in my mat, lifting my hair and sighing deeply. Is it stupid to feel betrayed? I barely know the guy but he kissed me. I opened my eyes to see a piece of white paper on my lap and the faint sound of yelling in the next room.

Rubbing my face in frustration, I picked up the envelope gingerly. "To Fang" the top of the paper read. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. If it's for Fang, why do I have it?

* * *

_Fang_

"You stay away from her," I growl, "From all of us."

"Just so we're clear, lover-boy, you're staying in my house," Sam laughs but it didn't reach his eyes, "You're welcome to leave."

"I _know_ what you do, what you and JJ do," I threaten, "Ratchet found out and Kate sent a letter to me. Max is reading it right now. Whatever you had is over."

He throws a punch but I dodge it, catching it and twisting his wrist over, hitting his elbow. He quickly took his arm back and spat, "You don't know shit about me."

"I do, I know that you're a criminal, I know that you robbed a bank, I know that you're a drug dealer or whatever you call it."

I think I saw fear in his eyes and he glanced over at the door. There was a little distress in his voice as he spoke, "So what?"

"I know Max more than you do," I tell him, "She's going to _hate_ you, trust me."

"I don't think so," he suddenly took on a sly look, "She kissed _me_, tonight."

Something just snapped in me and I pushed him against the wall and he snorted, "Didn't know you rolled that way, Fangie? Sorry, I have a thing for Max."

I grabbed his collar and punched him as hard as I could in the face.

* * *

_Sorry this is short you guys, I just don't feel like writing much and I just don't feel like focusing on anything right now._


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24- The Departure

I'm feeling a lot better now and I realized I wasn't updating and I wanted this story to be done so I can start a new story for the summer. I might not update too much because it's close to exam season and I'm exhausted with all this homework and projects.

Thanks for all the reviews you guys and Faliara: yes, it was the other way around, Sam just wants to get under Fang's skin which turned out to be a bad idea.

I'll take all your thoughts into consideration especially the ones about hurting Sam because I wrote him as an asshole and he's really really annoying. So Sam might get abused by multiple people.

Just a question, if you go back to previous chapters involving the Felhor Caverns, what do you guys think the red dots are. I noticed that nobody commented on that.

Anways, enjoy.

* * *

_Fang_

Sam groaned a little, leaning back and chuckling a little bit at me. He shook his head, feeling his eye.

"If that's how you want it, Fangie-boy," he says.

I saw his stance change a second before he threw his punch and I dodged to the right elbowing his ribs and pushing him back to the wall. I heard a sickening crack as his head met the brick. His eyes unfocused for just a second before rubbing his head. There was a fierceness blazing in his blue eyes when he looked back at me. He readied his stance.

* * *

_Max_

"Everybody up," I snarled, crushing the paper in my right fist. How dare he lie to me? That's why the law inforcement was questioning us. Sam was a criminal and we _trusted_ him. He made Iggy and Gazzy criminals too! He said I wouldn't regret letting him take them out but I do. Ugh! I let Iggy and Gazzy commit a _crime_! I'm a horrible leader.

But that thought was quickly replaced by anger towards Sam because my brain is geared to blame others for mistakes. I groaned in my head. We're staying with a _drug dealer_ and a _thief_ and possibly a _con-artist_! See these human words I learned within these three days? Yeah, congratulations to me.

Now to the task at hand: Wake everybody up.

They all turned around to face away from me, pulling up the covers around their ears. What is up with everybody doing the exact same thing all the time? I felt like kicking the person nearest to me but that was Angel and I didn't feel like hurting her.

I shook Gazzy and Angel's shoulders hard waking them. "Hey, you guys, get up!" I almost snarl with anger, "Mom! Everyone, we're _leaving_! Now!"

They groggily get up and I pace, flustered. Who _does_ that? I didn't know what a bank was but Sam could've told me that taking from it was a bad thing. Oh right, he couldn't have because he's a _liar!_

"We can't stay here," I explain when they finally get up and I start throwing everything in a pile in the middle of the living room/ bedroom for Mom to put in our bags, "Apparently, Sam is a known criminal and Iggy and Gazzy robbed a bank because Sam said it was okay."

Iggy and Gazzy flush whether in embarrassment or anger, I'm not sure. Maybe it was both. I wasn't mad at them, I'm just mad at _him_.

Fang stormed out of the room and saw us up. He froze looking at us packing up. I studied his face. His lip was split and there was a bruise blooming on his cheek. Otherwise, he didn't look too bad. Then he gave me a stony smile and moved past me without a word, helping them pack.

Sam followed Fang out and he looked worse for wear. His nose looked broken and his mouth was slightly bloody, he shook out his wrist and massaged it. I think that was broken too.

"We're leaving," I spit at him.

He looks pained, "Max, please, I can explain."

"Explain what?" I shoot him my most murderous glare, "Explain that you robbed a bank and had Iggy and Gazzy help. Explain why you _lied_ to me?"

"I didn't lie to you, Max!" Sam exclaimed, his eyes indignant, "You just didn't ask about it."

I stop halfway to the door to look at him incredulously. Did he seriously just say that? I didn't ask about it? It's my fault that he robbed a bank?

I cross the distance between us and slapped him as hard as I could. His head flew sideways and his hand came up to touch his cheek which was already turning red. He looks at me weakly, "Max, I'm sorry."

"Oh, you're sorry?" I ask, my eyebrows furrowing into an expression of innocence and sympathy, "I take the slap back then." Then I punched him as hard as I could in the jaw.

"Come on," I say gruffly to the rest of the pack, stomping out. I felt Fang's impressed gaze on me the whole time.

* * *

_Fang_

I didn't think she was actually going to hit him but I was glad she did. I don't think I roughed him up enough. Honestly, what was he thinking?

JJ had left us with an address to find the rest of the shifters if we ever needed anything. It took about two hours walking up and down the sleepless streets of Manhattan before we realized we passed the place four times before actually walking in.

JJ's boyfriend or boy-toy was pretty rich so he lived in a loft on the 23rd floor of some building. JJ was allegedly only dating him for his money. He was an accountant or something like that and ten years older than her. I feel his pain, being prince has its perks.

Max rung the door bell tiredly, she barely said two words to any of us after we left and when Angel asked her if she was okay, she just gave a rigid smile. She shook out her tangled blonde hair with one hand and I realized that it wasn't that messy before she went out with Sam.

I tensed thinking about what they must've done. What's a club anyways? I'm pretty sure that her hair couldn't have gotten that messy from dancing. Back in the castle during balls or evening parties, women's hair could stay until three in the morning. Now I _really_ wanted to go back and hurt him some more.

Why was I so jealous anyways? I told her I liked her and she didn't say anything but stared at me.

Max rang the bell impatiently.

"Max, let me," I suggest, moving up to the front and knocking on the door as hard as I could. I'm proud to say there was a dent left into the door. This place was a lot fancier compared to Sam's flat. The door was white and had a gold plate with the number 2302.

"Who is that?" JJ appeared at the door in a white robe, her red hair was messy, kind of like Max's and it wasn't hard to guess what's been keeping her.

Then she smiled and threw her arms around me, "Oh, Fang, it's so nice to see you!"

I peeled her arms off of my neck, "Nice to see you too. Where is everyone?"

She blew her hair out of her eyes, "Oh they left yesterday. They were getting pissy about something. Whatever, Harry was getting annoyed with them here anyways."

As if on cue her boyfriend shouted, "Jeanine, who is that?"

"Oh, my friend...Fa...nessa. Fanessa!" she shouted back.

"Jeanine?"I raise an eyebrow.

She laughs, "Yeah, he thinks I'm a proper lady."

"So where did they go?" Max asks frustratedly.

"Central park, I think. They could've just stayed here but whatever. You'd think they're wild animals or something."

"Yeah, yeah, thanks," Max turns around dismissively, her hand around my wrist as she pulls us out of the apartment.

"Bye!" JJ called after us.

* * *

_Max_

I slipped into my hawk form. It felt so good to shift again. The night air fluttering my feathers felt like heaven. It was going to be easier looking for the rest of the pack this way. Plus it took the frustration out of me with Sam and JJ. Who does JJ think she is, hugging Fang like that? I shake my head slightly, gliding across central park. The park looked big compared to the rest of the steely city but it was small compared to the forests back home. I called out a little, hoping Ratchet would hear me or something.

I'd left the rest of them by the road so I could bring Kate, Ratchet, Holden and Star back with me to them.

Luckily, they did after I scanned the entire park. They were in the middle by the bridge where we came from.

"Hey, Max!" Ratchet yelled, waving to me.

"Oh thank _god_," I sighed, shifting back into human form, landing from the sky in front of them. I've been looking all over.


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25- Together and Apart

Next chapter, I was thinking that there's actually going to be about 8 more chapters and maybe a sequel if you beg enough ;).

Anyways, enjoy the chapter.

* * *

_Max_

The slight night breeze swirled in the leaves and boughs of the trees above, the sound like a symphony of whispers and secrets.

I should be a poet, right?

No, I just can't sleep. It's been harder for me to sleep these days. It's been hard ever since the Purge but since we came _here_- wherever here is- I've been sleeping less.

Picking up my jacket and slipping it on, I sat up. Shoes on, tongues out, and socks tucked in -it was like a ritual. New York was getting to me. I was used to the noises in the forest but the loudness of car horns and people shouting to my shifter ears was unsettling me.

Looking around, I guess I never really noticed just how big our pack was until we all stood together. It was like a small village or flock or something. I can't really call us a clan or flock because we aren't all birds but I digress. I'm relieved that I have everyone in my line of sight so we aren't being conned by a street kid.

I fall back onto my make-shift bed. It's basically just my cloth bag but I took everything out and filled in with leaves. It wasn't really all that soft but it was better than sleeping on the stones.

A couple walked by who were showing wayyyy too much affection. They were slobbering all over each other as they walked at a constant pace. How is that even possible? They saw us and muttered something like "hobos" and "gyps" whatever that means.

And then my existential crisis kicked in. This entire world was making me so confused. Which one is the real world? The Queen's Realm or this human-run, dirty and messy world? Where did we come from? Did we _really_ come from humans? That sounds really dumb. All of our legends and traditions would mean nothing if we did. What about Cardinalship? How would that come from humans?

I fold my hands behind my head, blinking at the night sky. There weren't red dots here. Come to think of it, the stars back home weren't red either. I close my eyes and picture home before the fire. It was so beautiful and pretty. It was a little bit boring but gorgeous anyways. I was in charge of hunting most of the time and it turns out that the mice and other smaller animals were more appetizing in hawk form. Nothing much ever happened and when Angel was born, everyone held a huge celebration and we had a ceremony to welcome her into the village. Mom said they did the same for me but it wasn't as grand for me. Nice to know I'm loved, chief. I felt a pang at that when I remembered that he's dead now. I know that isn't my fault but I can't help but feel a little guilty that I lived and he didn't. He's part of the Queen's collection now.

This is a strange place. It's a hard place to survive in, especially if you don't have anywhere to be. There's so much competition in the streets. There was competition back home too but no one got killed. Most of the time. Okay, during springtime a lot of the older guys got into fights that some people didn't survive but still. It's not like people are knifed, gunned down, or generally murdered for _money_. We didn't have that back home.

There was just so much to think about here.

Not to mention that Fang's snoring is pretty loud in addition to the noise of the city.

But maybe if I just close my eyes…

* * *

"Max! Get up! It's noon!" Angel jumped on me.

I let out a loud 'oof' as all the air in my lungs blew out.

"Ow, Angel," I groaned, clutching my aching stomach.

"Come on, Max, we're hungry!"

"I don't have any money," I murmur groggily, ruffling her and Gazzy's hair. The guys' hair is getting pretty long now but we don't have anything to cut them with. It looks ridiculous. Fang's hair is covering his eyes basically and mine is getting annoying.

"Can we steal some?" Angel asks and my eyes flew open in surprise.

"Angel!" I scold, "No! That's not an okay thing to do!"

Gazzy looks ashamedly down at the ground.

"Oh, Gaz, I didn't mean say that," I turn to Angel, "That doesn't make it okay to do. But Gazzy, I know it's not your fault, okay? You didn't know what you were doing. Just now you know you can't do that."

My tummy growled in protest, "Okay, but I am getting pretty hungry."

There _was_ a small restaurant that smelled pretty good down the street though.

* * *

"So, where do you think we are?" I ask Kate, blowing out into the air. It was getting cooler these days but not enough for my breath to turn white.

"Hmm, what do you mean?" she asks.

"We came out of the tunnel and we ended up here," I gesture to the park, "How did that happen? There aren't any visible mountains near here. Where's the ocean? We can't just go through a magical tunnel and end up in a different world."

"We've noticed that too," Kate says, referring to her group. She stretched out her arms, "But we can't come up with a good explanation for it. Why don't you ask your little mapmaker?"

"Gazzy?" I turn to look at him, "Why didn't I think of that? Gazzy!" I call him over and he looks up from the small hole he was digging with Angel. Who knows what they're doing.

"Yeah, Max?" he squinted at me, the light reflecting in his eyes.

"I need you to draw another map."

He crouched down and picked up a bit of dirt before running over to me. He flattened the dirt out so there was a map. He drew part of the caverns and the mountains. The mountains were a lot longer than I thought they were. We spent about three or four days in that tunnel, and ran a mile of the way. Then we somehow ended up in Central Park. But since there aren't any and the closest mountains that fit the description are the Catskills about 100 miles away, it meant that we probably traveled 100 miles or more in 4 days. That's actually pretty good I think. Does that mean the Catskills were where we're from? That doesn't make any sense.

Then our Realm is actually pretty small. It would have to be to fit in the mountains and then I felt despair. That would mean our Realm is actually human-made.

"Everybody, listen up!" I raised my voice to get everyone's attention, "It's highly likely that humans _made_ shifters somehow. I don't know how and I don't know why. But it looks like we've all been living in an artificial environment made by humans somewhere in the mountains. We need to find out more about Itex."

"We need to split up," Kate adds.

"Max," Fang calls my name, "I need to talk to you."

"Angel and mom go together, Iggy and Gazzy and Kate, you can split up your group," I say, going over to Fang. Everyone got their stuff and dispersed.

"What is it?" I ask him, wary. He had a kind of scary calm about him.

"Max," he says quietly, "What are you up to?"

"I'm just trying to figure things out, okay?" I comb a hand through my tangled hair.

"And what about Itex, what if it's dangerous?"

"So what if it's dangerous?"

"Itex rules about everything here and everything where we came from. Doesn't it bother you that you have the possibility of dying?" he asks, his hand shot up to grab my elbow tightly. Our faces are inches apart.

"Does it bother you?"

"Yes! Yes, Max, it does because I _care_ about you. I told you that."

"I know, and then you walked away from me," I remind him bitterly. He looks surprised.

"Because you didn't say it _back_."

My eyebrows shoot up in shock, "What? _That's_ what you've been upset about?"

He looks at me in silence, his eyes conflicted.

I breathe out a laugh, "Really? Oh, Fang, you- you're just so- oh my god." I cover my face in my hands, "Fang, I _like_ you too."

He grins suddenly and kisses me lightly on the lips. All his stupid worrying and our arguments was because of his _insecurities_? I kissed him back that night!

"Ah, young love," I whip around and see an old gray-haired couple waving at us. I wave back, suddenly in a bright mood.

"But Itex," Fang reminds me.

"Whatever Itex is, your mom's most likely part of it," I inform him.

"Then we have to get Ella and Nudge out," he insists, "Promise me we'll go back for them."

"We don't know another way in. The last tunnel's blocked off."

"We have to try. You're the Cardinal, what about the shifters in the caves?" and his brow furrows, probably thinking about Dylan, "Just promise me."

"As soon as we find another way back," I said.

"Promise?"

"Promise."


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26- The Itex List

This is going to be our special little six-year-old's time to shine. That's right, Angel's the star and point of view of this chapter.

Enjoy.

* * *

_Angel_

It's always been this way. Don't ask me when it started. Mama says it's a gift, Max says I'm special and it's our secret. It doesn't matter; I don't feel like sharing it with other people anyways. I've always known I was different. I can see through people, and if I focus, it's almost like I can read their thoughts and on rare occasions, control them. I've always known the mal-intents and goodness in people.

I saw that Fang loved Max back in the caves after Max told us to run to safety when we ran into the cavern guardian. I saw through Sam when we first met him. At first, it was a curiosity towards Max that was burrowed into his brain. Then it got darker and darker and he _wanted _her, he wanted to possess her and take her away. And then he left with Iggy and Gazzy and when they came back Iggy and Gazzy were guilty and then I could see what they did. I could see why they were so ashamed. They didn't tell me and I _knew_. The letter from Kate to Fang confirmed my suspicions. So, don't believe me? I have a couple of sentences involving a few choice words from Sam's mental dictionary telling you exactly where you can stick that opinion.

Now imagine walking down the street and feeling whatever though pulses in their heads. _Tuesday night at Tiffany's, Hotel, Money, Dinner with Samantha._ And then there are the rude ones that I have to watch out for whether it's directed at me or Mom or anyone. Those are the ones that make my mom wish I can't hear thoughts.

But now I purposely have to keep my ears peeled for anyone who might know anything about Itex. It's harder here with so many people and so many stray and jumping thoughts. Since I'm not just searching one person's head, I have to open up my mind to let them all in. It's too crowded and it almost blurs my mind. I squeeze Mom's hand for support. She smiles encouragingly at me and I focus again, skimming across thoughts to find the word Itex or shifters.

"Hey!" a brown haired man shouts as he bumps into me and my pouch goes flying. He sees me and his eyes soften, shifting quickly from another stress-filled thought that I didn't hear, "Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie. Here, let me get that for you."

"Thank you," I grin up, not letting him know that I was reading his mind. Then his gaze shifts up to Mom and all his attention does too. I can almost see him gaping inwardly. Mom's pretty, an old pretty unlike Max's young pretty. I guess they're about the same age.

"My apologies, ma'am," he says smoothly, his voice lowering. I roll my eyes internally. Oh boy.

"It's alright," Mom smiles uncertainly at him, "Mr…"

"I'm Ethan Lucas," he says quickly, offering a hand for Mom to shake. She does gingerly. This is a human custom, I've observed.

"I'm Mrs…Hawk, and this is my daughter… Olive," I follow her line of sight to a restaurant named Olive Garden. Brilliant, mother.

Mr. Lucas's face falls, "You're married."

Mom stiffens and I can feel her getting sadder. She doesn't like to think about dad. She still does in her sleep sometimes and it scares me because I can feel the loneliness in her. "Not anymore," she says softly.

"Oh, I didn't mean to intrude," Mr. Lucas says.

"Oh no, it's fine," she says dismissively, hesitating for a split-second so it's clear she's not fine before smiling.

"Can I take you out for a coffee?" Mr. Lucas says abruptedly and I feel his thoughts turn back to the stress. He sounded like he was making a list of what to do for the next week: _Boss wants three reports by Wednesday, Ana's prescription to be picked up in the Itex pharmacy tonight, get ready for the meeting Friday, Itex leaders wants to review staff tomorrow, call Wendy, call Mother, call Aston, cancel plans Monday, take Mrs. Hawk out (_I bristle at that one), _Itex research review._

He thought about Itex three times in a minute. I think it's safe to say that he has some involvement in it.

I nudge Mom's side, "Do it. I'll explain."

Her eyes widen at me before she faces Mr. Lucas again, "Of course, we'd love to."

"Mommy," I face her and wave her down so her ear is right in front of me, "Itex."

I see her start to understand.

* * *

"So, are you new to the area, Mrs. Hawk?" Mr. Lucas says casually, sipping his revolting smelly black substance.

"Please, call me Valencia," she says cordially, "And yes, my daughter and I have just moved here."

"Where were you before?"

"Oh, we moved from place to place. We lived in the Catskills for some time," Mom gauges his reaction. There is none. I frown.

"That's interesting," he muses, "The company I work for has holdings in the Catskills. Did you like it up there?"

"Very much, but we couldn't stay," Mom tells him, "What company do you work for?"

"Itex," he says off-handedly. I shoot Mom a victorious grin and she pats my hand and I hear her proud of me. Is Itex not a bad thing here?

"I don't think I'm familiar with that company," Mom demures.

He almost chokes on his coffee, "You-you've never heard of Itex?"

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Lucas," she says, feigning hurt.

"I'm sorry, Valencia, it's just- Itex is famous. Itex is a pharmaceutical company. We make drugs that help people. Also we have shipping yards, air lines, insurance companies and other business."

"Sounds impressive," Mom sips her weak herbal tea.

"I like to think so, my dear," Mr. Lucas. That sounds greasy and disgusting. From Valencia to my dear in two seconds. Honestly. I'm never getting married.

"Get him thinking about Itex," I whisper in Mom's ear.

She resumes talking and I dig into his mind. I can see his face change for a slight second as I search. "Sorry, headache," he says and Mom looks disapprovingly at me. There's a strip of paper dancing in front of me, but it's really on a computer. "Congratulations, Mr. Ethan Lucas," the 'email' said, "You've been accepted to work at Itex…"

Then there's a list.

_Chairman- Harold Lewis_

_CEO- Dr. Ivan Terrance_

_General Manager- Brigid Dwyer_

_Business Development blah blah blah. I skim down and take note to search up Harold Lewis and Ivan Terrance and Brigid Dwyer. My eye catches on a familiar name. Marian Janssen. The _Queen_. My jaw drops_.

"Close your mouth, honey," Mom chastises.

* * *

"Max!" I yell, catching up with them, waving a thick yellow phonebook in the air, "I found the head of Itex!"

Max takes the book from my frantic hands and looks down to where I circled. She looks at me happily and hugs me. I hear her proud of me too. And then I hear the rest of the pack proud of me.


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27- Half-shift

Some things to note for this chapter. It's going on at the same time that Angel's chapter happened. Also, there's a guest POV.

Okay, I bet no one will guess who's the POV for this chapter. Ever. Never ever ever never ever. (Try saying that out loud. It sounds funny.)

Did you do that? Okay, now try saying it five times fast.

It's soooo entertaining to me for some reason.

Go review and try to figure out who it is. No cheating. I'll tell you who it is next chapter. You can also use past chapters to figure out who this is.

Okay, on with the chapter.

* * *

_?_

I tied my hair up and sighed. That was the fourteenth guy that whistled at me today. I rolled my shoulders back, clenching my fists to keep from killing him, the hair on the back of my neck bristling. I left the other three to do their own thing. It's really stifling being part of such a large pack. I love them, I really do. I care about them a lot but I'm not used to traveling with so many people. Back home, the largest group I ever traveled with is my mother and my two brothers. They're gone now.

Wandering the streets of New York looking for a clue is probably the worst idea I've ever had. I don't know what I'm looking for, and I don't know what to do if I actually found anything.

Itex. Max pointed the symbol out to us before when we were with Sam. After I started noticing it, it was _everywhere_.

That's how I ended up loitering around pharmacies and bus stops, in actually pretty shifty places, trying to find someone or something that could point me in the right direction.

And it was _tiring_.

It's more tiring than getting to Graywing Village. It's more tiring than putting up with JJ and her stupid leery boyfriend.

I shoved my hands in my pockets again, wishing for my shifter skin. I understand that it's too dangerous to shift but it's getting colder with the night falling.

I walk into a café bearing the Itex symbol next to its name- _Autumnal Star_. I clench my fist to make sure the couple bills I took from JJ were still there. It turns out that Double Caramel Macchiato are pretty addicting.

I relaxed as I walked in, an instant burst of hot air warming me. New York's great, but I preferred my warm savannahs better. Then I think that my warm savannahs were actually near or in New York. "Small Double Caramel Macchiato, please," I murmur to the barista, handing her a five.

I snuggle in the plushy booth by the window, staring outside at the bustling traffic. How can humans stand to travel that way? It's so _slow_.

"Small Double Caramel Macchiato," said a too-cheery voice, setting the Styrofoam cup down in front of me on a napkin. I say a quick thank you as she leaves.

Raising the cup up to my lips, I inhale deeply, eyes closed, trying to calm myself. It's devastating really how your whole world could be fake. How your entire ancestry and history could be fake. I smell the soft sweetness of the caramel and the slightly bitterness of the coffee. And then I smell something else. It smells like… a shifter. And it's really close. Maybe in this café? In the booth next to mine?

My eyes snap open. There's a large man sitting in front of me, a raspberry muffin in front of him. He has really pale hair and blue eyes, he's muscular and his skin is tanned, contrasting with his hair. The way he sits is kind of timid which is hilarious because he's probably ten times the size of me.

"Hi," he says, smiling.

"Who are you?" I ask. The shifter smell is coming from him.

"I never expected to see another shifter after I left the Realm," he scratches his neck. I'm almost surprised he doesn't scratch his neck with his leg.

"What are you?" I rephrase my question.

"Snow hare," he replies, "You?"

"Tiger," I said, baring my teeth.** A/N I tried avoiding this, but it couldn't be avoided and now I gave it away.**

He chuckles, "It shows."

"What's your name?"

"Robert. What's your name?"

I ignore him, "How did you get here?"

"The tunnel, same as you," he replies, watching me intently, then picking up his muffin and taking small bites. It's almost comical. He's a big man nibbling on a muffin daintily. Everything about him is contradictory.

My eyes flash, "How did you know that?"

"I was walking in Central Park with my girlfriend. I passed by the bridge and there was a faint smell of shifters. A lot of them. I picked out yours the most because there aren't many tigers in Central Park."

"There's not many starfish either," I say flatly.

"No," he sets his muffin down, barely a bite sized mark on it, "But I'm a snow hare, you're a tiger. You're a carnivore and I pick out carnivorous scents easier. I followed you here."

"Why?"

"Because you're going to struggle like I did."

"Is there anymore of us here?"

"I don't know. You're the only other one I've ever met in person. I've heard of people who had shifter-like abilities but I've never met any of them."

I pick up my coffee, now cooling, and finish it in three gulps, "You might want to meet the rest of the pack."

* * *

I watch Robert's reaction. His jaw is wide open. I admit we're a mish-mash group; three hawks (one Cardinal), two humans, a monkey, an antelope, a tiger, a starfish and an eagle.

"There's ten of you?" he asks incredulously.

"Yep," Max says, and I can hear the undertone of her voice again, coming through. I would think that hawks would sound more like Angel and Valencia, but it must be the Cardinal in her that changes her voice. It's louder and more commanding and compelling as if it forced you to listen to her. Robert hears it too and a part of him wants to bow instinctively. I see the subtle bend of his spine.

Max stiffens, "I understand that I'm the Cardinal but people just stop treating me different!"

Again, the tone of her voice almost forces Robert to straighten and toss her a sheepish smile, "I'm sorry, Your Grace."

"Max," she corrects, still a little flustered. She turns to me, "Angel found the list of names of Itex's leaders. We can track them down and find out more."

"Itex?" Robert asks.

"It turns out the pharmaceutical slash entertainment slash marketing slash law offices and etc. super-corporation of the human world is what made our 'Realm'," Max growls, kicking a stone.

"Is that even possible?"

"Think about it," Max says conscendingly.

"What do you plan to do?" the hare scratches behind his ears again.

"We have to go back to the Realm to collect Fang's sisters and the survivors there and shut it down. It's too cruel what the Queen's doing to the shifters there. She'll realize that she hasn't killed them all and she'll just go at it again."

Fang just looks ashamed at Max's words. Max turns around, as if she could read his mind and murmurs a quick apology.

There's something going on between those two.

Robert looks delighted, "There's something that you'll need then," he claps his hands together.

Then he starts jumping up and down.

"What are you doing?" I ask, looking at him strangely.

"Just watch," he insists, continuing to jump. He motions to Fang and Iggy, "Jump."

Fang gives him a funny look and Iggy shrugs before jumping up and down.

"Notice the three of us jump at around the same height while I'm in human form," Robert says, as if teaching a class.

We nod, unsure of what's going on.

"Now if I do _this_," he closes his eyes and his legs almost seem to elongate and grow a little bit thicker. He suddenly jumps up to Fang's shoulders and Iggy's head height.

"Woah," Gazzy says, marveling. There's a murmur of agreement going around the circle. Fang and Iggy stop jumping and Robert does too.

"I'm a snow hare and that was a half-shift," he explains, "It comes in handy, especially since I play basketball for a living."

"What's that?" Holden asks.

Robert gives him a wide-eyed look but then realizes that we've only been here about two weeks, "It's a sport where you have an orange ball and teams and you try to throw the ball into a net."

"Oh, that's what everyone's obsessing over," Iggy grins, slapping a hand to his forehead, "Of course."

"Right. So this is half-shifting. It's discreet and you can still use most of your powers. Like the birds, you might get wings. Star might run faster, Holden can probably survive chopping off of several limbs, stuff like that. It also conserves your energy."

"So how does it work?" I ask.

"That, my dear, takes practice."

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to join us?" I ask as he stands to leave.

"Nah, I have to get back to my apartment. My girlfriend'll go batshit on me. I haven't been home in two days," he explains, grinning.

"Okay. And thanks again."

"No problem," he winks and leaves.


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter 28- The Raven Reveals

So this is the last day of school for me before exams and I really should be reviewing but I feel okay to just wing it. Aha, I just got the pun! Get it? Wing it? Maximum Ride? Avian kids?

Okay, Allace, too much sugar today.

But other than that little outburst, it's been a pretty depressing day because I realize that I'm probably not going to see most of my friends this summer because a) they think I hate them b) they aren't talking to me because they think I hate them and c) I'm going to have ten million guests over and extended family that we don't have room for because we already have 7 people in our house.

So yeah. Good luck on exams and enjoy the story. It's going to be a long one.

Oh, on another note. The only person who got the last POV was Silvergrotto. *Gives Cookies even if you can't see them which makes them invisible cookies (good luck eating them)*.

If you didn't get that Kate was a Tiger, please re-read the story or go to Chapter 18- Chapter 17. Because everything's set back one chapter because of the Prologue.

Now, enjoy the story.

Oh, wait…

Kidding, go on.

* * *

_Max_

I scan a finger across the page, Harold Lewis.

"Someone jot this down," I turn to them briefly, "200 Winter Ave. Harold Lewis."

"876 Magnolia Lane. Brigid Dwyer."

"757 Barrow St. Dr. Ivan Terrance."

There's also a bunch of numbers there but I'm not sure what they mean. Each of them are listed in 10 numbers, grouped in 3-3-4s. I'll figure it out somehow.

"Okay, here's the plan, we'll split up and find a lead," I turn to them.

"Max, we're not going to split up again," Fang protests.

"What? Why not?"

"This is the leaders of Itex. Itex _created_ you. Who knows what else they can do to you? We're not splitting up. There's power in numbers," he insisted.

I looked around the circle.

"Fine," I relent.

* * *

200 Winter Avenue is a small townhouse squished in between to larger buildings. It has an older look to it that didn't really fit with the ultra-technological, ultra-sleek, and ultra-artificial look of the rest of the city. The entire road was like this. Harold Lewis's house was a cream-colored three story building with small columns between the first and second floor and embellished by a flowery, elegant carving between each floor. The front door was elevated atop a small flight of stairs. The windows that surrounded the house revealed a hall going into the house lit by 3 consecutive and expensive-looking chandeliers. A long black car was parked in front of the building. Swanky.

The ten of us were crowded behind a large hedge, our heads poking out of the gaps that we made with our hands.

"Who wants to ring the doorbell?" I ask in a mock-whisper.

There's a long silence as we all stared at each other. I laugh, "Right. I'll do it. Cover me."

I cross the street pretty gracefully, receiving only 3 honks, 5 death stares, and 2 rude gestures. I'm getting better at this.

I smooth down my already worn shirt and ring the bell.

No one answers.

I frown and press the doorbell again. My impatience kicks in and I knock the door hard. The door slams shut and I pull the door handle. I stare at it quizzically. I turn back at the pack and give them a "I'm going in" look or what I hope was one before entering the house.

It's eerily quiet in here. I can hear the soft thud of my sneakers against the immaculately polished floor. Whatever Itex is, it brings in a lot of money. My arm brushes against a large vase of flowers that weren't withered at all by the wall. The hall split into two, one into a stainless steel kitchen where there was nothing in the refrigerator. Damn. If you're going to leave a house open, you might as well leave food in the kitchen. The pantries are empty too. Does anyone actually live here?

The other room was an all white furnished living room and the only color in there was these abstract art pieces. There was a curving staircase leading up.

"Hello," I whisper stupidly. I don't know why. I think it's because it's so quiet in here that I feel like it would be weird to disturb the peace or something. I climb up the spiral staircase.

"Hello," I repeat a little louder.

There were four doors on the second floor and more on the third I think.

The first door led to a little girl's bedroom. It's pink and had dolls and teddy bears in it, a small twin bed with a princess canopy hanging over it was in the center of it all. There wasn't anybody in that room.

The second door was a master bedroom; the walls were covered in blue patterned wallpaper. There was a desk and a king sized bed and a couple pictures, a bathroom and a closet. There wasn't anything in the closet and there weren't any toiletries.

The third was another bathroom, probably for the little girl, but there wasn't anything in there either.

The fourth was another bedroom. It was probably a guest bedroom because there wasn't any kind of personalization in there. Just a generic, cozy-looking room.

I think most people would have just gotten the hell out of there but I was curious.

There was a staircase going into the wall leading to the last floor of the house. This one was dimly lit unlike the golden, shiny, polished image of the rest of the house. It led up to a door that had a sign that said, "Keep out."

And then underneath that "P.S. Love you honey but don't go through that door."

I don't know which one would terrify me more if I was married or the daughter of this guy. I tried the knob. It was locked. I inhaled deeply. "Here we go," I sang under my breath and threw myself at the door.

With a giant crash, the door fell in and I felt a piece of wood jab into my arm and break skin. I smooth myself and look up. It was probably the scariest sight I've ever seen.

Harold Lewis sat in front of me in an armchair, eyes wide, covered in blood, dead.

I lift a hand to my mouth, "Oh my god."

A piece of wood breaks behind me and I whirl around. There's a man in black, his face covered, standing behind me with a _machete_ in his hand.

"Who are you?" he asks gruffly, raising his hand so the tip of the blade is at my throat. I back up slowly.

"Don't make any sudden movements, girl," the killer says. I trip over the handle of the armchair and yelp, jumping up. _I just touched a dead body!_

I scanned the room. There was a book shelf and a desk with a computer and an armchair. This was Harold Lewis' study. There was a window to the right and behind me.

"Who are you?" he asks a bit louder.

"I'm his wife," I lie.

"Liar, I know his wife."

Then he considers this for a little bit, "Are you his mistress?"

"His what?"

"Or are you an 'escort'?"

"What?" I continue to back up.

"Not very bright are you?"

"Who are you?" I ignore the last comment, finding the glass of the window behind my back.

"No one," then he notices where I am, "Jump, I dare you. It'll save me the trouble of killing you."

I close my eyes and fly out, my wings morphing out in my back. I feel the killer's confused gaze on me.

"Run, run, run!" I yell to the pack and sprint away.

"What happened to you?" Fang asks concerned.

"Harold Lewis- is dead."

"What?!" everyone exclaimed.

"Did you-?" Iggy asks.

"No! I didn't kill him, but I ran into his killer."

Fang grabs my arm and points to the wound, "Did he do that?" he asks darkly.

"No, that happened when I broke down the door."

"So, what next?"

* * *

_Fang_

"Hi, I'm Nick Sanders, interviewer from the Aquinas High School Newspaper here to interview Miss Dwyer," I spoke into the intercom at Brigid Dwyer's house slightly outside of Manhattan. I saw Aquinas High School in an advertisement or something.

"Miss Dwyer isn't in at the moment, did you have an appointment?" the voice crackled over the line.

"Not exactly," I mutter, channeling sheepish, "I just had this great idea to interview one of the greatest scientists of the modern era."

"Well, you're in luck," the too chipper voice said, "Miss Dwyer will be back in 10 minutes from her meeting, would you like to come in?"

"Yes, please."

The gate snapped open and I jogged out to the front of the house.

"Hello," the woman at the desk waved me over. I recognized her voice as the one who rang me in. She had short brown hair and too perfect makeup and clothes, like she was artificial, "Why don't you wait there and I'll call Miss Dwyer ahead so she expects you."

"Thank you."

The lady dials in the number. "Hello?...Yes, Miss Dwyer…Yes, I have a young man from the Aquinas High School Newspaper…Yes, Aquinas…Okay…I'll let him know."

"She's agreed to meet with you," the lady calls.

"Thank you," I murmur.

I look around. This place is overly decorated like Dr. Dwyer paid ten designers to furnish one room. I shift uncomfortably into the chair that was currently swallowing me whole.

"Ms. Dwyer!" the woman stood suddenly, rushing up to take Dr. Dwyer's coat. Dr. Dwyer was a pretty woman with blond hair down to her shoulders and green eyes. She didn't give off a very science-y vibe by the way she stood like a model for jeans on the billboard. She dressed smartly in a grey business suit dress and high heels.

"Hello, where's my interviewer for Aquinas?" she asks, scanning the room until she saw me. Her painted red lips curled into a smile and she sauntered over, her hand held out. I stood and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Dwyer," I retrieve my hand back.

"Please, just Brigid," she murmurs softly and gestures to a door at the end of a long hallway, "Shall we?"

Her office was very minimalist and sleek. She put away a briefcase and put a packet of papers on a neat pile on her desk and motioned for me to sit.

"Shall we begin?" Brigid asks.

"Right, okay, what-uh-got you interested in science?" I asked.

"Aren't you going to get out your notepad?" she smiles slowly, her eyes half-lidded, almost predatorily. I shudder inwardly.

"Um, excuse me," I cough in embarrassment, "I didn't bring one with me."

"You didn't?" she says in surprise, except it wasn't really surprise, she almost looked like she expected it. She dug out a notepad and a pen for me to write on.

"I was interested in science when I was four years old and my parents were both geneticists, but you knew that already," but her eyes told me she knew that I didn't know, "And when I was in the seventh grade, I won the science fair for successfully creating recombinant DNA from a glowing firefly to a fish. The entire fish lit up and I studied biology and biochemistry all through high school and got into genetic engineering in college. I actually switched majors. And then I interned at Itex and quickly moved up from there."

"What are some things you hope to create in the future?" I ask, stuttering a little. Give me credit! I didn't have time to actually think this interview up.

"Things?" she asks, mocking me, "I don't create _things_. But I do create drugs and chemicals that help people. My labs are currently working on a chemical that quickens nuero-signals to help speed up the thinking process. We are also working on many other _things_. What did you say the name of your newspaper was?"

"The Aquinas… Times."

"Right. The Aquinas Times. What's your name?" Brigid leans back in her chair, lazily, grinning at me, her too white teeth sparkling behind blood red lips.

"Nicholas Sanders."

"Nicholas Sanders," she tried the name out on her tongue, "Are you aware that Aquinas is an all girls Catholic school?"

I froze. What?

She chuckles, "I know exactly who you are Fang Janssen. Your mother's looking for you."

I shift in my chair, ready to get the hell out of here at a moment's notice. Brigid leans forwards and brings her hand up to my chin. She trails up the base of my chin with a red-painted fingernail, "Don't worry, Fang, I won't go running to your mama. In fact, you _intrigue_ me."

I swallow. She smiles wickedly at me, "You may go now, and tell the editor-in-chief of the Aquinas Times that I know who she is too."

My eyes widen.

Max. She's talking about Max.

* * *

_Max_

"She said what?" I repeated menacingly.

"Look, just drop it Max, we'll just have to be more careful," Fang ran a hand through his hair.

"She was obviously flirting with you!"

"I wasn't flirting back! I'm not interested in her! Okay? I like you Max," he says the last part softly, as if he's afraid that someone else will hear.

I hold his gaze steadily, both of us too stubborn to back down until Iggy interrupted.

"Hey, sorry to break up your lover's spat but we're here." He pointed to a small house compared to the other two. It was as gaudy as Brigid or Harold's but it was more subdued. The houses surrounding it were smaller than it was.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Kate asks.

"We'll knock on the door like the other two times," I suggest.

"Look what good that did us," Fang scowls, "You got cut and threatened by a murderer and I got threatened by a scientist that probably helped create you."

"Okay, do you have any other ideas?"

"Wait, you guys, look," Gazzy pointed to a tall, skeletal-looking, brown-haired woman.

Fang almost jumped at the sight of her, "I think that's my mom."

"The Queen?" Ratchet sneers in disgust.

Fang swallows, "I'm almost positive that's her."

I start following her. She goes into the CEO's house. There's no more doubt that Itex has everything to do with what we are.

"Max, I'm coming with you," Fang catches up to me.

I look at him and then nod, turning to the group, "Stay here and look for a signal if we need backup."

Marian Janssen goes in the house through a small entrance in the side of the house that led downwards rather than into the house. Fang and I hid behind a bush.

We rushed to the door before it closed and waited about ten seconds before going in with them.

"So this is where she goes," Fang muses quietly.

"What?"

"She used to disappear for days, maybe weeks, and ordered everything in the city to just stop until she got back. I never knew where she went but now I do."

"Oh."

We walked through a thin dark tunnel, so thin that we had to walk single file, me first, feeling along the wall to navigate. Thank goodness it was straight instead of having twists and turns. It opened up to a dimly lit warehouse looking thing. And then I started hearing the screeches. It was animals, tons of them, screaming in cages to be let out. There's monkeys and birds and fish in tanks. There's lizards and mice, insects swarming around in glass boxes. It's like a zoo.

"What do you think you're doing in here?" a voice growled behind me.

Fang and I whirl around. Marian and another man- probably Ivan- stood behind us. I froze and then softly whispered to Fang without moving my lips, low enough so only we could hear, "We can take them. I'll take your mother and you get Ivan."

He nodded almost unperceptively.

Then about ten armed men flooded into the room.

"Restrain them," Ivan commands.

They start towards us and I half-shift, flying at one of them, kicking him so he's on the ground. I land quickly and fold in my wings, picking up his ankles and swinging him into two others beside him. A guy comes up behind me and grabs me below my arms and I shift into a snake, surprising him and slide out of his grasp before shifting back and kicking his temple. He fell downwards. Two of the came towards me and grabbed both of my arms and I flew up, knocking them off balance. Fang over there was holding his own; he's obviously had more sparring training than I had with my few days with Jeb. He fended off about three of them at a time and then there was a guy that came up behind him, holding a black object with blue light crackling off of it.

"Fang! Watch out!" I cried but it was too late, the object met his skin and his spasmed to the floor. But as he did, I swore I caught a flurry of black feathers and wings, an inhuman almost bird-like squawk and the clawing of talons on the floor. Then it was gone.

"Move and we'll kill him," the Director commanded. Two of the armed men threw me into a cage, like the rest of the animals. It reminded me uncomfortably of when I was back in the Realm.

"Take him back to the Realm," Marian commanded and I spit at her but it only reached her feet. She curled her lip in disgust at me and kicked at my cage before leaving with Fang's limp unconscious body.

I cried out and shouted but Fang wouldn't wake up.

The Director kicked my cage repeatedly until I stopped yelling. He brought his face inches from mine and snarled, "Try to get out and we _will_ kill him."


	30. Chapter 29

Chapter 29-Rescue

Because I added the little unplanned bit about the killer in there, that makes him another loose end which means there may be about 10 chapters until I end this.

I'm disappointed. I wrote over 3000 words for the last chapter and I only got 4 reviews. But you guys must've liked it because I was bombarded with new story follower emails. So lazy-pants, start reviewing.

So shout out to my reviewers:

gigglesandbooks- it might not be possible for a while until Max and Fang escape but yeah, they will.

Elemental Dragon Slayer- yeah… I agree. Max was being pretty irrational about the whole thing.

Larafares96- Don't worry, I have that planned in the next two or three chapters.

I Am a kick ass Princess- What does pizza have to do with this? And Max was wearing something along the lines of dark leggings, a green blousy-tunic thing, a brown thin belt, and a tan-colored small cardigan jacket.

Oh, special POV this time again.

Anyways, R&R.

* * *

_Holden_

We were all sitting in a nearby park, relaxing and waiting for Max and Fang to come running back but it was taking a while.

"Oh my god!" Angel shot up to her feet, her eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration, "Max is in trouble. And Fang just disappeared."

"What?" I asked, "How did you know that?"

"That's not important," she moves on, her eyes unfocused and staring at the direction of the Director's house, "She's in a cage. It's dark, there's someone else in the room. There are lots of animals too. But Fang's been… taken."

Then her eyes refocused, "She's gone."

"What!" Valencia hissed, "Where'd she go?"

"We have to go get her!" Gazzy shouted.

"Wait, wait, we need a rational plan, you guys," Kate said, pulling us all back to calm, "Why isn't she escaping?"

"I got a feeling that she can't, something's keeping her put," Angel explains, her eyes closed, "I'm looking for her but she's gone."

"Wow, can you read minds or something?" Ratchet asks.

Angel looks alarmed and I narrow my eyes in suspicion. She can, can't she?

"Yes, I can, Holden," she says, looking at me, "I kept it from you guys because you might think I'm a freak."

Her blue eyes were dejected as she continued, "Sometimes I can read people's minds really clearly and I can hear individual thoughts; but sometimes it's fuzzy and I can only sense feelings. But Max feels like she's there but there's like a wall and I can't get to her. I've never felt anything like it."

"Okay, she's in a cell," Kate muses, pacing. She has a habit of pacing and moving when she's making up a plan. Then her eyes snap at me. Everyone else follows her gaze and look at me too and I practically see the gears in their heads working before they smile in realization.

"Whaaaat?" I ask slowly, dragging out the syllable. Star shoots me a sheepish look and I feel like everyone knows except me. She comes over to sit next to me.

"Come on, please?" her blue eyes look up at me hopefully, the corners turning down sadly.

"Please, what?!"

"This is what you're going to do…." Kate starts.

* * *

_Max_

It was dark and cramped in the smelly cell. Did I mention that it was cramped? They hooked something up to me so that I couldn't shift. I was curled up, hugging my knees to my chest, afraid to sleep or I might tip the cage over and can't get up afterwards.

"Hello, Max," the Director said, a blue-filled syringe in his right hand and a small machine in the other, "Hold out your arm."

"NO," I snarl, shifting myself as far back in the cage as I could but it didn't really make a difference.

"Are you sure?" he says and then he presses a button. A terrible pain traveled up my spine and I screamed. He takes advantage of my still moment and plunges the syringe into my arm. Slowly, my vision clouded, my thoughts were blurry. There were pretty watercolor butterflies flitting around the room. I looked around the room and followed them with my eyes. The Director's features blurred and his mouth made a few words. He handed me something sharp and I looked down at my thighs. I must've understood what he said because I dug the blade right into my thigh and the whole world disappeared.

* * *

_Holden_

"So I just need to go in there?" I ask, slightly intimidated.

"Yeah, you'll be fine," Kate insisted.

I peck Star on the lips and sneak into the alley. It was completely dark and I fumbled for the door handle but I push it open easily. That's suspicious.

There's a narrow tunnel that opens into a dimly lit room. There's sleeping animals in cages, but some nocturnal animals were screeching and pounding on the cages. There's a soft singing that shifts from a small whimper to a soft melody and back. I follow it to a cage on top of two empty cages. Max is sitting there, serenely and I think she's content there until I see the red.

I almost can't register what's going on. I start at Max's head, looking at her softly closed eyes, a strange song coming out of her slightly parted mouth. My eyes move down to her arms, her hands clutching a knife! It's driven into her thigh, blood gushing from it.

"Max!" I yell, and then shut my mouth, working at the lock as hard as I can.

She turns to me, her eyes half-lidded. She giggles, "Holden, is that you?"

"Are you drugged?" I ask, slamming on the cage.

She startles, "Maybe. What are you doing?"

"I'm getting you out, Max," I tell her, half shifting so my fingers can fit in the the lock.

"NO!" she screams and pushes me away. My fingers are almost yanked off.

"Ow!" I yelp in pain, "What the hell, Max?"

"You can't," she says desperately, her eyes still slightly unfocused, "They'll kill Fang if I get out."

Then her eyes are scared as she looks at something behind me.

"Yes, so you understand if we keep her here, right?" the Director comes up behind me. I jump a little and I get ready to fight.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the Director said pressing a button. The most unearthly wail came from Max, "I can kill her right now. Your precious Cardinal will be dead in seconds."

I look at Max and her eyes are begging. I pause just long enough for three black-dressed men to grab me.

"Get him a cage too," the Director said dismissively.

I'm thrown into a cage with iron bars that dig into my spine. Luckily, I'm in the cage under Max's. "Max, we're going to get out of here," I tell her. I take the knife I had in my coat and throw it into Max's cell, making sure it didn't hit her. I shift into my starfish form and leave my cage, climbing up into Max's cage.

I try to get the wires off unsuccessfully but I'm not going to turn back and get in a tiny cage with Max. That would be uncomfortable to tell Star. I look at her wound and found that the skin was growing back around the knife. I jump out of the cage and land in human form, pulling the knife out. She winces a little bit but she looked completely out of it. I think she was asleep.

"I'll be right back, I promise," I tell her and take both knives in case she wants to hurt herself again.

I run out of the lab to the pack, "Max is drugged, Fang is gone and there are animals trapped in there. The Director has some thugs there and we need to save her."

"What about Fang?" Iggy asks.

"He's somehow back in the Realm, I don't know how."

"Well we need to get them," Kate says matter-of-factly, "Here's the plan."


	31. Chapter 30

Chapter 30- Jailbreak

My whole world is crumbling so I decided the only stable part of my life is fan fiction so I'm throwing myself into my work, good news for you guys but not so good for me because I will have no life. Well I guess it's good because it gives me something to do.

* * *

_Star_

Iggy and Gazzy were going to blow up the facility. It took a lot of convincing since the last time they blew something up, they hurt innocent humans. But after a lot of goading and pleading from Angel mostly, they relented and Gazzy had to help his Cardinal. We were all compelled to do this. If I had a choice, I'd run with Holden back to Central Park and make some money, maybe settle down and have a family. But the Cardinal was on the line and we were all programmed to help her. She wouldn't even be Cardinal if she hadn't met the last one. Honestly, any of us could've been Cardinals but she got to Cardinal North first. Kate, Ratchet, Holden and I did stop at Cardinal North but it was in disrepair.

But anyways, the plan was to blow up the front tunnel of the complex so there was a gaping hole in the wall where I can rush in, get Max and we would figure it out from there. This was the best we could come up with in ten minutes.

I stretched out my legs and back. I hadn't run in forever and half-shifting was going to be tricky. I wasn't very good at it but I couldn't grab Max with hooves.

"Hey," Holden said, coming up to sit next to me.

"Hey," I say back. He had concern in his eyebrows. I already know what he's going to say.

"Star-" he starts.

"No," I smile unconvincingly as I pulled my leg towards my back, "I'd happy to do it. We need to. We need Max and Fang right now."

"If something happens to you, I don't think I could-," he pauses as if the thought physically pained him.

"Nothing's going to happen, okay?" I say softly, putting my hand to his cheek and sitting down in front of him. I lean in and kiss his lips softly. Holden returns the kiss and lays his hand over mine, holding my hand to his cheek.

"You didn't see what it was like down there," he shakes his head, "We'll be right behind you, if anything happens, I'll be there. We'll all be there."

"I know," I say simply, "I trust you."

He sighs out a breath and smiles weakly at me, "Thanks."

I knew exactly what he saw down there, Angel told us. There's animals down there in cages, there's men with weapons, there's drugs and needles and knives and Max was down there, out of it, almost dead. I know what he saw. I know why he's upset. He didn't get Max out; he thinks he didn't do anything. This is going to fix it. He's going to be relieved when we get Max out of there okay.

"Star," Kate calls, "Are you ready?" Iggy and Gazzy flank her, small black objects in hand.

"Yes. I'm ready."

* * *

_Fang_

I was dragged through a long tunnel and then plopped on a bench. I was tied up in ropes and there was a really painful sensation every time I moved. The bench began to move forwards. I was startled.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the dim-lighting of the tunnel. I was on this cart thing, propelled forwards into a dark tunnel. There was a door behind me where I came from. Mom was sitting next to me and two guards in front of me.

"Awake, are you, darling?" she says too pleasantly.

I don't answer.

"Are you still bitter about that knife? It was just a scratch," she continued, "And honestly, if you'd been a good little boy instead of joining the shifters, none of this would have happened."

I still didn't answer. What kind of mother disowns her son for doing the right thing, cuts him, electrocutes him, and ties him up?

"Oh, we're here," she says cheerily as the cart jolts a stop. Mom snaps her fingers and the guards bring one of her robes and she slides in on over her black shirt and jeans. She places her crown over her long fake bangs. So this is how she does it. The doors are pushed open and I'm dragged by my shoulders by the guards into my mom's room. I look behind me and the doors turn into her bookshelves. Of course. The one place in the entire castle I haven't been to is her room.

"Keep him in his rooms; don't let him get out until he can be trusted. Have the maids attend to him and bring him food but KEEP HIM THERE," she says, not sparing a look back. And then I'm dragged into my old rooms.

I remember how I hated staying in here as a kid but now it's even worse when I'm staying in here against my will. I'm untied and the doors slam behind the guards. I tried the doors. I tried the windows. I tried the chimney. They were all locked, jammed, and stuffed up. Guess that means no fires.

"What am I supposed to do here?" I growl. I lay down on the bed, kicking my legs up. Blinking, I suddenly saw the red dots that Max was going on about. There were about three of them on the ceiling.

I decided I have to get out of here.

* * *

_Max_

"_I love you," I say into Fang's chest. He murmurs something to me that I can't hear. _

_I look up, "What?"_

"_I love you too, Max," he says calmly._

_I settle back down and his arms wrap around my waist. I take in the scenery. We lay in a field surrounded by stars, there's a slight breeze that washes over me, comforting as the sea. I close my eyes. _

"_I wish… we could stay here forever," I sigh._

_But just because the world hates me, everything crumbled around me and the scene re-molded itself. We were in a thick forest. It kind of looked like the forest by Blueburn Village. A pang of homesickness hit me. _

"_Max," Fang whispered right up to my ear. I jumped for a second before relaxing and turning to him, laughing. _

_But he wasn't there._

"_Fang?"_

"_Max, over here," he calls a little far away._

"_Fang, wait up!"_

"_Boo!" he shouts right into my ear and I yelp turning. But he isn't there._

"_Fang?" I ask a little hesitantly this time._

_I turn and he's walking towards me. I exhale in relief. "Fang! There you are."_

_But he walks past me, giving me an easy smile and leaving._

"_Fang?"_

_And then I'm plunged into darkness_

"Max! Max!" Star's voice calls.

"Over here," I croak, surprised at the sound of my own voice. It sounded like my vocal cords were on fire, dipped in acid, cut apart by chainsaws, crudely sewn together by a million tiny spiders with rusty needles, and then sandpapered.

Pretty nice description, right?

"The lock," I gesture to the deadbolt at my right.

She shifts and _uses her horns_ to pick the lock. Maybe it's that icky blue drug still in my system but I found that fascinating.

"Jeez, Holden's useless," she mutters.

"Holden was here?" I say surprised.

"Yeah, now get out of there, Your Grace." She said 'Your Grace' really nastily. I don't think she likes me very much.

I fumble out of the cage and almost got caught by the wires. I land on the ground with an 'oof'.

"Ow," I rubbed my head and got up.

"Let's go," I tell her.

"Wait," she says and then shifts again, going over to the nearest cage and undoing the lock. I look at her and nod, going to another cage to help free the animals.

* * *

_Fang_

I ran towards the door again, aiming my shoulder at it. There was a slight cracking sound. Encouraged, I backed up and took a running start again.

Let me clarify. In the past 3 or so hours, I have covered every single one of those stupid red lights that I somehow never noticed before I met Max, I have attempted to escape in 7 million ways, and came up with a plan. Right now that plan involves me breaking down the door.

"Knock, knock," a small familiar female voice said, "Room service."

Tessa?

Tessa was once my betrothed.

.

.

.

.

Just letting that sink in. Tessa was once the girl my mother arranged for me to marry. She was apparently from another Realm, which I found now is the human one. She talks like it. I used to think she had a weird accent but she sounds just like those New Yorkers. She kind of sounds like JJ. Come to think of it, she sort of looks like JJ… I digress. Anyways, I spent a year getting to know her and we ended up being friends but we broke it off because Tessa didn't like me. It's not all that depressing. Tessa doesn't like men. But since she couldn't tell that to her parents, I told them that Tessa was upset because she caught me with another woman. They now don't talk to me but Tessa and I are still good friends.

So what was she doing here?

I opened the door slowly; making sure it wasn't a trick. It wasn't. It was Tessa in all her red haired wonder.

"It's you!" Tessa squealed, giving me one of her infamous bear-hugs. She invited herself in just like out times. With an uneasy glance at the half-destroyed door, she claps her hands together, making herself at home on my favorite arm-chair.

"How did you come back to life from the dead?" she asks.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I didn't realize I was dead," I say baffled.

"Your mother told the kingdom that you were dead."

"What!?" Then a thought hits me, "Is that why Ella and Nudge haven't come to visit me yet?"

"Yep. Probably."

"So how do you know I'm here against my will?"

She shrugged, picking at an invisible thread on the right armrest, "I hear things from your guard."

"How…?"

She looked at me flippantly, "I'm going out with Anastasia Harold, okay?"

"The captain?"

"Yes, the captain," Tessa tries to roll her eyes but she grins. She's in love.

"I'm happy for you!" I smile.

"I haven't told anyone yet so if it gets out, you'll be dead."

"Understood," I do a mock-military salute.

"Now, let's go get your sisters."

* * *

"You knock," I push Tessa towards the door.

"No! I don't even know them that well and it would be weird!"

"Not as weird as their dead brother coming at their door! They'd scream their heads off!"

"Either way, they're going to be scared!"

"I'd rather them not wake everybody up!"

"Just do it, Fang!" Tessa stage-whispers, exasperatedly.

"Fine," I grumble and knock on Ella's door, "She's not going to answer. It's 3 in the morning."

"Just a minute," came Ella's distant voice from inside the room. There was a fumbling sound and then rapid footsteps.

Tessa murmured an 'I told you so' under her breath as the door slowly opened. The look on Ella's face was priceless. Her mouth dropped open, her eyes bugged. Aside from that, I noticed that her eyes were red from crying and her entire look was a mess.

"Ella, are you okay?" I rush up to hug her.

"No! Don't touch me," she backs off into the room and I walk in before she could close the door on me, "What are you? A trick? A trap?"** A/N Let's see who gets that reference. **

"Ella, I'm alive, Mom lied to you."

"No, no, no," she sobs, "What about Iggy? Where is he? Is he dead?"

"That's great. I'm back from the dead and my sister asks how's my friend," I chuckle. She glares at me and I reply, "Iggy's okay. I was just captured. Iggy's with my friend. Max."

Ella pauses, "Who's Max?"

"The shifter."

Her nose crinkles, "You leave home for a _shifter_? And let us all believe you were dead?"

"I was disowned by mom," I tell her, getting annoyed.

"Okay, enough you two," Tessa cuts in, "Where's Nudge?"

Ella waves a hand to the bed.

Or should I say beds? I didn't know they shared a room. There were now two twin beds dominating the middle of the room.

Ella reads my mind, "We didn't share a room but after you and Iggy died, we didn't really want to be alone. So we share a room so we can comfort each other if we wake up screaming or crying."

I swallow, "I'm sorry."

Ella waves it off, "So what did you come back for?"

"We need to get you out of here," I tell her.

"Excuse me?" she asks, "Why?"

"It's not safe; you'll understand when I show you."

"Show me what?"

"Just wake up, Nudge."

Ella gave me a mildly annoyed glower but went over to Nudge's bed and shook her shoulder gently, "Nudge. Nudge, wake up."

Nudge isn't a good person when she wakes up against her will. Besides the mornings, she was usually a chipper person. But she was cranky and sleep-deprived apparently since my alleged death. So when Ella went to wake her, her first reaction was swatting at Ella's hand. But Ella was insistent and Nudge woke up.

5 minutes of insanely fast talking and…..go!

"What? Fang? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be dead? Are you a ghost? Are you coming back to haunt me? Oh, no! I knew I shouldn't have taken that cake Eliza left for you when you turned 14 but I was hungry, please forgive me. Don't attack me please; I'll be good I promise. I won't steal any of your birthday cakes anymore. Well I can't since you're dead. I'm sorry about everything I did to you. Wait, if you were dead, how come it took you two months to come back? Have you been to Heaven yet? Is it pretty? Did you visit your funeral? It was so depressing and they played your favorite song and Eliza and Deidre were crying so loud. They were your nanny and maid, remember? Well they were fired after you died and I was really said to see them go. Wait, are you dead? You look pretty alive. Ella, you knew about this? And what's Tessa doing here? If you aren't dead, is Iggy alive too? Where have you been? You have to tell me everything. If it's about that shifter, I'll be extremely angry. How dare you leave us for so long! I missed you so much. Oh my gosh, Fang! It is you," Nudge sobbed into my shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay," I pat her back. Her whole body was shuddering with shaky breaths, "I'm here. But we need to leave."

* * *

I knew I should've checked in mom's rooms when I was younger. I knew she was going to kill me if she caught me but now I really have nothing to lose. But dragging Nudge, Ella and Tessa into this sort of bothered me. Of course, Tessa wasn't coming with us. I told her about how I met someone who looked like her (JJ) and how she could be from the human world but she told me that she had to stay with Captain Anastasia Harold. This would be a lot easier if she came with us though.

We waited around the corner of the hallway to see Mom leave. "Go, go, go," I whispered and we ran for the closing door and slid in before Mom could notice us. Why am I still thinking of her as Mom? I turned and said a quick good-bye to Tessa who nodded and waved as she turned away. I felt a pang of sadness, like I knew I wasn't ever going to see my friend again.

Marian's rooms were gilded on practically every surface except for the walls. Those had bookshelves and paintings or green wallpaper. Then there were the mirrors. Mo-Marian had three floor-to-ceiling mirrors, always kept perfectly clear, with gold edges carved with designs. Marian was always vain like that.

"Here," I point to the bookshelf and pull it away with ease, like a door, "Get in."

I pulled the door shut slowly and heard Marian come back. I left it open a crack and watched as Marian approached the mirror and slowly lift that presumptuous crown off of her head. She lifts the wig's bangs off of her forehead to reveal a circlet of blue markings.

"Oh my god," I whisper and let the door softly close and ran for the cart.


	32. Chapter 31

Chapter 31- Reunion

I love your reactions to Marian being shifter. Was it really that shocking? Guess I didn't leave as many clues as I should've. Oh well.

There's probably about 4 or 5 more chapters left.

Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

_Fang_

Ella yawned next to me, stretching upwards, "How long is it going to take?"

"Ten minutes? I don't remember," I tell her, the cart going slower than I remembered it. You'd think that moving in a dark tunnel would have some sort of novelty, but it really doesn't. After a while, the whole underground cave thing gets old.

Nudge was surprisingly quiet until I noticed she'd fallen asleep. I said a silent prayer to whatever omnipotent force made that happen.

The cart jolted to a stop.

"Wake Nudge up," I tell Ella. I climb out of the cart.

"Why do I have to do it?" she grumbles. Ella changed. She's never been that angsty. Maybe she's moving on to her rebellious teenage phase. She's only fifteen but still…

"What is it!" Nudge rolled over in the seat… and then off the cart. She landed with a loud thump. "Ow!"

She growled and combed her fingers through her unkempt brown hair. Then she immediately perked up, "Okay, I'm up, but that was a terrible way to wake up, you know? I think we really should invest in some kind of alarm to wake me up. Like an alarm clock. Ugh, does someone have a hairbrush? Or a toothbrush? I need fresh clothes. Anyways, where're we headed? I'm starved. What time is it?"

"Nudge," Ella gives her a pointed look.

"Oh, Fang!" Nudge notices me again, "I completely forgot, although I'm not sure how because I remember almost everything. Which reminds me, I have to go to the new play by Ainsley with Mary. Never mind, I'll cancel with her later. So, you missed your birthday! Tessa, Ella and I had a small birthday cake we put on your grave but it rained and I'm pretty sure some dogs ate it."

"My birthday?" I asked. How could I forget my own birthday?

"Right," Ella added, "Your _eighteenth_ birthday."

I smacked a hand to my head.

"You forgot didn't you?" Ella asked, "What's so important that you forgot your own birthday?"

"Try saving a race," I answered.

"Right…"

"Come on, Mom's going to figure out that we're gone soon," I waved them over and pushed open the big doors slowly. But then I figured out that I didn't have to bother being careful. There was a gaping hole on the side of the complex and the whole place was deserted.

"Oh," I eased the door open.

"What is this place?" Ella murmured. I guess it appealed to the artistic side of her. Cue art lesson in one, two, "The balance and chaos of the mankind and nature. Look at it. It's gorgeous."

"Aha," I choked out a laugh, "You wouldn't say that if you knew what this place is, come on. We have to meet the rest of them."

* * *

_Max_

"Max," Angel tugged my elbow, "I'm hungry."

"Right, I'll get food," I yawned. It was about six in the morning and I didn't sleep all night, "Just- just wait here."

I wandered away from the group towards the 7-11. There was about three dollars in my pocket; I could probably get two bags of chips or a couple hotdogs.

"Maximum Ride," a low, familiar voice called out. A tall, tough-looking man in a gray t-shirt and khaki shorts appeared from the shadows. He had close-cropped brown hair and gray eyes, "Remember me?"

"Um, no?" I wracked my brain. He sounded really familiar.

He coughed, "Harold Lewis? Does that ring a bell?"

I gasped and the dead body of Harold Lewis flashed before my eyes. I jumped back into a defensive crouch.

"Relax, Cardinal," the killer held up his hands, showing that he was unarmed, "I'm not going to hurt you."

I didn't relax, my hand moved down to the pocket knife at my belt, "Who are you? What do you want? How do you know my name?"

"Good questions, but I'll answer them after you've put down the knife," he said, "I've shown that I'm unarmed, now courtesy says you should do the same thing."

"Funny, no one ever said I was a polite person," I snarled, my grip on the knife tightening.

He sighed, "All right, all right. I'm Jeremy Kurtis, I'm also a shifter but I escaped with my family when I was two."

"Your _family?_" I exclaimed. How many people escaped the realm without people noticing?

"Yes, my family," he said dismissively and continued, "We left the Realm and a scientist named Dr. Hamilton helped us adjust. When I was 7, he started training me to bring down Itex."

"Why?"

"Didn't you figure it out already? Itex's scientists genetically mutated us to be shifters," he explained.

"Is that even possible?"

"Not in the Realm, it's not. They decided to create this artificial bio-dome to keep us in. Analiese Porter was in charge of taking care of us, she created the Cardinal system and she had an obsession for the Renaissance era of the human world. That's what the Realm's based off of. That's why all this technology," he gestured to the streets, "Marian was her daughter. Your little lover boy is Analiese's grandson."

"That covers my first question, two more to go," I fold my arms over my chest.

"Cardinals have a special energy trace which can be found by most infrared goggles," he explains, "All Cardinal records including names, and ID tags are kept in Harold Lewis's office. I figured out you were a Cardinal when you tipped out the window and your bangs were swept aside."

"Figures," I roll my eyes.

"As for what I want," he starts, "I need you to go lead me back to the Realm."

"Why?"

"So I can kill her," he says like it's the most normal thing in the world.

"Yeah, next question," I say just as calmly, "Why do you want to kill all these people?"

"Because Dr. Hamilton told me to."

"Why…?" I prompted.

"Because Itex is bad?"

"And what if I don't?"

"I don't have any problems with getting my hands more dirty. Starting with your beau." I stiffen slightly. Well, that isn't much of a choice at all.

"I feel like Dr. Hamilton has an ulterior motive. You can come with us and I'll show you where the door is," I yawn, feigning nonchalance, "After I get food for the rest of the pack."

"Here," he hands me a ten.

* * *

_Fang_

"Where are we going? I'm hungry. Do you have food? Do you think Max has food?" Nudge babbled.

"It's just a block away to the park," I explain.

"Are we going to finally meet this Max of yours?" Ella asked.

"You already met her when Mom captured her during the purge."

"We've never met her properly," Nudge said, flipping her hair back, "I only saw her in that cage in the throne room. You have to introduce us."

Ella added, "And I'm pretty excited to see Iggy again."

I roll my eyes, "Of course."

There was a guy jogging on the other side of the street who whistled at my sisters. I frowned, "They're under-aged, perv!"

He sticks up his middle finger at me and continues on his way.

"You talk different now," Ella commented.

"Well, you'll get used to it."

"Hey, Iggy!" I called out as the pack was in sight. Iggy popped up from the pack and waved.

"Hey Fang! You're back!" Iggy exclaimed, "I thought you were dead for sure!"

"Iggy?" Ella said excitedly and ran up to him.

"Ella!" he beamed, wrapping her into a tight hug. He murmured something in her hair and I thought he was going to cry.

"How did you guys get out?" Gazzy asks, "And who are they?"

"I think some introductions are in order," Ella remarks.

"Yeah, sure, you guys do that," I tell her, "Ella, Nudge, this is Gazzy, Kate, Holden, Star and Ratchet. These are my sisters."

"Oh, yeah, I think you mentioned them," Holden grins and Star shoots him a look.

Iggy and Ella were talking to each other quietly on a park bench. And Nudge was only thirteen so I don't think Star has much to be jealous about.

"Where's Max?" I asked and everyone shrugged in unison. That's creepy.

"You called?" Max saunters out from behind me with a guy on her tail. No pun intended, "I got food." She lifted a bag of food.

"Who's he?" I frown.

She raises an eyebrow and says the next three word's very carefully, "Harold Lewis's killer."

"What?!" everyone screams.

"At your service," the killer bows, "The name's Jeremy Kurtis."

"He's going to stay with us for a while and he wants back into the Realm, he's shifter," she seems like she's leaving something out.

"Right, so we're going to harbor a murderer with us," I growl.

"Can we not fight about this?" Max says pleasantly, munching on a bagel.

See, there's something extremely troubling about the prospect of traveling along with a killer, even if he's a shifter and Max trusts him. And there's something else troubling about Max being too pleasant to me even after I growled at her. Which means she's hiding something from me I'll most likely disagree with.

Max catches my look, "Come on." She gets up and expects me to follow. I do.

"I'm so happy to see you," she smiles in relief, wrapping her arms around my neck. She leans up and presses her lips against mine.

"Max," I murmur against her lips.

"Shh."

I relax and press her against a tree, kissing her neck.

* * *

_Max_

He doesn't need to know anything yet. It'll kill him, but do I have a choice? There's a dangerous killer who wouldn't hesitate to actually kill him. Marian's a monster. She killed so many people. Does that mean she has to pay for it with her life? Do I get to choose for her? I swallowed and Fang pulled away.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"Nothing," I shake my head and hope I'm convincing.

"One more thing I found during my night at the castle," he adds, "Turns out my mom's a Cardinal."

"What?"


	33. Chapter 32

Chapter 32- Unresolved

Please review everyone! Sorry this is late!

* * *

_Max_

"What do you mean your mom's a shifter?" I jump away from him in shock. He looks surprised at my outburst.

"I get why this is surprising but I don't understand why you're so upset about it," he steps towards me hesitantly. I should've seen it before. He doesn't move like humans do. He's more graceful, quicker, stronger. But he doesn't move like a shifter either.

And then there's another question, "If she's a shifter, then why did she try to kill me and why did she kill all those other shifters?"

"I don't know, but isn't it great? I'm like you," Fang smiles.

He's right. He would have to be at least half-shifter if Marian really was a Cardinal. That doesn't even make any sense. If that was true… Jeremy would know because it would've been in the records right? I don't know how I feel about this. I couldn't agree to someone killing another Cardinal, right? But Marian didn't hesitate to kill us.

I frown.

"What's wrong, Max?"

I wave him off, "Nothing. It's nothing."

But it isn't nothing. This changes everything. If he's half-shifter, he should be able to shift. I've heard of half-shifters with a shifter parent and one of the humans from the Human Capitol and they can shift. But Fang seems completely oblivious to what he can do. And if he's the son of the Cardinal, he definitely should be able to shift into at least one form. Then again…

I think back to the Director's basement. When he got electrocuted, I knew I heard some kind of bird squawk. Fang? Was he a…?

"Come on, we have to get back to them," I tell him, taking him by the wrist and pulling him towards the group.

* * *

_Fang_

Something's bugging Max. I can tell. Her eyebrows draw together ever so slightly, her lips are vaguely pursed. When she took my wrist, her hands were hesitant, almost terrified to touch me. She's not scared of me, is she? We're in the same species now, that's a good thing, right?

"Hey, lovebirds," Iggy greeted us with Ella on his lap. I roll my eyes and Iggy grins. I hope he remembers his promise.

"So, you're Fang Jansen," Jeremy pipes up as Max pulls me to sit next to her.

I clenched my teeth and Max taps on my hand with her pointer finger. I look at her and she gives me a weak smile. I breathe out a sigh, "Just Fang," I tell him gruffly.

"How did you get back here after going to the Realm?" he asks.

"Is that any of your business?"

"He wants to go back to the Ream," Max explains.

"Why? Everyone's dead."

"Not everyone," Jeremy looks at Max probingly. I didn't like it. Max glares back and he chuckles. My hands fisted at my side.

"Right," Max looks back at me, "How did you get back? Not that I'm not happy you did come back but still."

"There's a doorway through the Director's basement that has a passageway into Marian's study," I say reluctantly.

Jeremy considers this. He nods, "Well, kiddos, I'm off."

He stands to leave, brushing off invisible dirt from his jeans. He walks off into the direction of the house. Max startles and jumps to her feet.

"Wait!" she runs after him. I grit my teeth. Something's going on between those two.

* * *

_Max_

"Wait!" I call after Jeremy.

He smirks coolly, "What, Maxie, can't stay away?"

I glare, "If what you said was true, then you knew Marian was the Cardinal South."

"So what if I did?"

"How can you still want to kill her?"

"How can you still sympathize with her?" he countered, "She killed your dad, your clan, your _race_."

"But she's a Cardinal!"

"She's not a Cardinal," he snarls, "Don't you understand? There's no such thing as Cardinals, there's no such thing as shifters."

"But we're shifters."

"And we're created by humans. We're just genetically altered humans!"

I swallowed to try to process this. He didn't let me. His pulled his hand up from his jacket pocket with his hand on the trigger, "Don't think too much. Don't come after me."

He winked and backed away slowly, the gun still pointed at me until he disappeared.

I huffed out a deep breath. At least Fang is safe.

* * *

"Just try again, Fang, come on," I plead. He was glaring at me from the ground below the tree, "It isn't that hard. I promise."

The past week, I've been trying to get him to shift. We tried everything. We tried pushing him off of a cliff so that he'd be pressured into shifting, hypnotizing him (although I could've told everybody it wasn't going to work. Iggy learned how to "hypnotize" out of a book he nicked from the library), and forcing him to shift. Right now, we were trying to get him to shift by throwing him out of a tree. I can't say that most of us weren't enjoying it.

It didn't hurt him. Shifters are more durable than humans are. It might give him a few scratches but he'll heal faster too. It wouldn't break any bones.

"No," he spat.

"I know you can shift. _I saw you_ shift. You're some kind of bird. Just try a little harder," I seriously couldn't figure out why he couldn't shift.

"Give me a _break_, Max, so what if I can't shift!"

"What if you get into some trouble?"

"Stop! Just stop! You're not my dad."

"That's a little offensive," I retort, "Did I ever look like a man to you?"

"You know what I mean, Max," he just curled in a city position on the ground, refusing to get up. I changed into an ocelot and lept down next to him and shifted back.

"This comes natural to you, Max, it doesn't come natural to me," he complains. I lean towards him and kiss him gently.

"Please, for me?"

* * *

**Okay, this is pretty short but I've been really obsessed with this idea for a story I might do on Fictionpress or something.**

**Here's a summary and tell me if I should do it.**

"**Red Lipstick"**

**The year was 1923, the 3****rd**** year of the goddamned Prohibition and it was doing a number on poor old dad. This was supposed to be the year of dance-halls and soda parlors. It was supposed to be the best year of my adolescent life. I was 15, naïve, scared and desperate when I met and fell for Eddie Price (or some name). I guess you can say nothing's changed much.**

**Actually, I suck at summaries so here's the gist of the story:**

**Grace "Lace" Brady ran away from home at 15 in 1923, running from her abusive father and distant mother. She meets Doris Kapala, a taxi dancer who takes her under her wing. That's when she meets the notorious Eddie Price (again, name undecided), the biggest gangster on the East Coast. She gets pulled deeper and deeper into his crazy world. She sees things she never thought existed and probably never will. She's led into this dark underworld ruled by him. Will she stay, or will she come to her senses?**

**Good, bad, terrible? I don't know what it's going to be like exactly. But I don't really think it's Fanfiction material. Especially since I don't want to make Fang seem a) heartless b) ruthless c) a terrible person. I don't think Fang's really all that dangerous and he's not really gangster/ mobster material. He's got too much of a soft-side. Aaaand I revealed too much about the characters.**

**I've got so many story ideas and I think I should probably get it them on Fictionpress so I might start doing that instead of Fanfiction. I guess I'm pretty tired of writing the characters in the mold that another author set up for me. I know that it's not exactly like the books, and that's what I like about Fanfiction, but still. I think I want to do a lot more. My dream is to get published one day and I think I could do it. Then again, I went on Fictionpress and most of the stories has like one or two reviews if any, so it's not like I'll get good feedback or much reaction to my story and what I like about Fanfiction is that I get a response with each chapter so I know if I'm doing good or not.**

**I don't know if I'm going to do a sequel now that the Queen is as good as dead but I will finish this story. So I might add about 10 chapters to add more drama and fit in what I was originally going to put in the sequel. And I might be doing a Mortal Instrument fanfiction maybe.**

**What do you think? **


	34. Chapter 33

Chapter 33- Scaring off Potential Suitors

Hi everyone, still, no feedback on my potential story? Interesting…

Anyways, enjoy this story and I probably won't update until after the fourth of July because I'm going to be busy and probably procrastinating.

Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

_Max_

Fang was a lost cause. We tried everything to get him to shift. We put him in all these dangerous situations that would make his instinct kick in but he just ended up with a bruised rib, a sprained ankle, a minor concussion and a few cuts. We even tried getting Angel to control his mind to shift but it seemed like that part of him was blocked off.

His sisters on the other hand, were naturals. As soon as we explained the feeling (reaching deep inside your soul and seeing what was there before feeling it take over you) they mimicked it perfectly. Nudge could become a hummingbird and could maintain being a butterfly for about two seconds before being exhausted and Ella could shift into a white Arabian horse and a small meerkat. They couldn't do much else but I get it, being a Cardinal was exhausting even though I've shifted all my life. I could only imagine how it would be for them.

I could tell Fang was getting frustrated with all of this though. He looked flustered every time I asked him to try. Of course, I would be too if I was asked to put my life in danger to do something I deemed useless. He thinks being a shifter is useless!

So when Ella and Nudge asked if we could go shopping today, Fang basically pushed me into the taxi and sent us to Fifth Street. We knew that we couldn't afford it but Ella and Nudge were begging to see the clothes. We didn't have much money so I didn't understand why they wanted to be tempted into buying things we couldn't afford. Sometimes Kate, Holden, Star, or Ratchet came back with a couple twenties that I didn't know where they got it from. I could hardly complain. Iggy and Fang got a job at a fast food place called McDonalds and would sneak us back some food after their shift. I bussed tables at the Autumnal Star on Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends from 12 to 8pm. I got paid minimal wage but I got tipped fairly often so it wasn't like we were starving. Still, supporting 12 people was tricky but we all pitched in. Angel even did a couple of "magic" tricks in the park to make some money.

Anyways, Nudge and Ella were adapting to 21st century life pretty quickly, they liked the pants and shorts and the soft cotton and polyester shifts. It got so far that they drew out designs for shirts and dresses they wanted for mom to make for them. I was fine with the 2 tank tops, 2 pairs of shorts and a light jacket Sam gave me but Nudge and Ella designed clothes for all of us so that we didn't have to "repeat outfits" and do laundry every day. I guess if you think about it in the long run, we would be saving a lot of quarters from the laundro-mat but buying all the fabric, thread and needles for this took up all my tips and half my pay-check. I guess the little princesses weren't used to being tight on money. They did help mom with sewing so I guess it was okay. Soon, all of us were sporting "hip, new designs by the up and coming designers Nudge and Ella Jansen". They were… good, I guess. I got more looks from strangers at the café, much to mine and Fang's annoyance. He made sure to kiss me or hug me tightly- possessively- when he noticed it. I wouldn't be surprised if Nudge and Ella sold their designs.

"Do I _have to_?" I asked grumpily inside the taxi. It was going to be a girl's day. That is- Nudge, Ella, Angel, and me. Star and Kate were off doing… something.

"Of course," Nudge said brightly, "It's going to be fun! You're so pretty that you look good in practically anything. You have to try everything on. And plus, Fang said that we needed a chaperone…"

I didn't pay much attention after that. Nudge and Ella saw me as an older sister now almost. It was nice most of the time but times like these I wish Nudge and Ella were less comfortable around me. Nudge can talk your ear off and Ella was sweet but she had a little filter problem. She didn't know what offended/ embarrassed people.

Angel noticed my bored expression and squeezed my hand. _It'll be fun_, she whispered into my mind. I rolled my eyes.

_Let's get this over with_, I thought back, sourly.

* * *

"Oh, so this is the mall," Ella breathes, enraptured. She stared at the glass walkway above us and the people walking to a forth. They all wore name-brand clothes in a kaleidoscope of colors, unlike our slightly washed-out, pale clothing. They were like bright paradise birds, flitting to and fro in a canopy of starry lights and perfumed airs. Nudge ran to the nearest store. _Louis Vuitton -_ the glowing sign above greeted us. It was high-class, the price tags with multiples zeros, the bags all silver-clasps and glitter. Leather, sating, silk and three-inch heels. Jeez. How can someone be this presumptuous?

Nudge began chatting away with a salesperson who looked disdainfully at her clothes but warmed up to her because she matched her 100 mph chatter. Ella was gushing over a hand-bag. I prodded Angel towards Ella, "I need to take a breather."

I shook my head and wandered out the shop into the mall. It was too… synthetic. Artificial, metallic, cold. This was really, really uncomfortable for me. I hated the smell of this place, overwhelmingly thick and sweet and musky. It smelled like rich people.

"Hey, Max!" a male voice called. I didn't turn. He didn't mean me, right? Max is a common male name in this century. That's until I felt a rough hand on my shoulder.

I whirled around and almost smacked the person in the face until his hand gripped my other wrist. I came face to face with a brown-haired, green-eyed guy.

Sam.

Dammit, I thought I lost him.

"Oh thank god it's you!" Sam breathed, smiling, "Max, we have to talk."

"Talk," I command, retrieving my hands. He tried to gesture for me to sit in a nearby lounging area but I stayed put.

"Okay," he sighs, happy with the opportunity anyways, "Max, I can't stop thinking about you. I see you everywhere. I think I might be in love with you."

He moves to cup my face in his hand and I step away. He looks confused.

"Please, come back Max," he pleads. I shuddered when I saw the hope in his eyes and heard the patheticness of his tone.

I was about to shake my head but then I saw it. The slight glint in his eyes. He's not going to leave me alone. Or… he's not going to leave human Max alone. But what about shifter Max?

"Fine," I smirk, "I'll tell my friends I'm leaving and I'll meet you outside in 5 minutes."

Sam beams, thinking that he'd won.

* * *

I told the three of them that I was going to step out for some food and I was going to let them enjoy themselves. Discreetly, I also told Angel that if any of them were tempted into buying anything, she should mind-control them back to the park. There is no way we're blowing $5000 on a stupid Gucci handbag.

I think Angel sensed that I was going to do something potentially stupid.

Five minutes later, I found myself out in the parking lot with Sam who kept trying to hold my hand.

"So where's lover boy?" he asked while wistfully at me. I scoffed, what did he want to hear? That I left Fang? That Fang left me? I didn't grace that with an answer.

"Right," he shuffled awkwardly.

"Come on, I need to show you something," I stalk off in the direction of the nearest park and I hear him silently trail after me.

"What is it? What is it?" I hear him call.

"You'll see when we get to the park," I answer him dismissively.

"What are we doing here?" he asks as soon as we find the cover of trees.

I put on my best pouty face. It's show time.

I turn my eyes to him, slowly. He looks startled. "I haven't been too honest with you, Sam," I tell him, slowly, channeling "kicked puppy" into my voice.

"W-what do you mean, princess?" Ugh, that stupid nickname again.

"I mean, I haven't told you everything about me."

"What, are you secretly a man?" he joked, but there's a hint of alarm in his green eyes, "Married? Vegan? Do you own ninety cats?"

"No," I say impatiently then quickly put the mask on again, "It'll be better if I show you."

I closed my eyes. I think a wolf should do for this. I felt the strange humming feeling, like my whole spirit was rearranging itself. My body elongated, my face did too, gray fur covered my body and my eyes glowed yellow.

Sam screamed like a girl. I almost laughed but switched back quickly. I tried my best to look hurt, "Sam, is something wrong?"

"You-you're a- you're a _were-wolf_?" he asks incredulously. I frowned, was that what humans called that?

"Yes, yes I am," I growl out and he flinches, "Is there something wrong?"

"Um, no, Max," he stutters out, "But I should get going. You know how JJ is, right?"

"Are you leaving me?" I asked 'angrily'.

He looks terrified, "N-no, I think that you and Fang belong together. Have you told him about this?"

"Of course."

"O-kay...," I could hear those rusty gears in his head turning furiously to think of an excuse never to see me again, "I'm moving- I'm moving to M-Mexico. And long distance never works. I'm sorry, princess. I-I'll miss you."

"Okay," I grin and move to hug him and he flinches.

"I- I better get going."

He scurries off out of the forest and away from me. I breathe out a sigh and smirk. That went better than expected.

Now I just need to hurry back to Ella and Nudge before they spend all our savings.


	35. Chapter 34

Chapter 34- A New Start

Jeez, way to make a girl feel loved. More reviews please.

Sorry I was gone for so long, I just didn't know what to do for this chapter. And then I decided it's either going to be really long or really short. I'm not sure if this is going to be a filler or a proper chapter. We'll see.

This chapter is going to be sort of confusing because all of the POVs.

Enjoy!

* * *

_Angel _

"And in this room, you can see that there are large windows for impeccable lighting throughout the day. It's a perfect room for your daughter, Mrs. Hawk. And if you'll follow me to the master bedroom…," the realtor-lady led Mom into the adjacent room while I stayed behind. I liked this house. It was big (five bedrooms, three bathrooms), close to a park (with a swing set and everything), apparently in a "nice neighborhood", and it looked pretty from the outside (cream-colored walls and brick, and brown roofing). And I saw a bunch of kids in the park so me and Gazzy will have some people to play with. We all needed somewhere to stay; we couldn't sleep in parks and in alleys forever. Besides, it wasn't "safe" like Mom said.

So it was me and Mom's job to go hunt for a house because I can convince the realtor to let us stay for free until we can pay for the house and Mom was the only adult-adult. Apparently, in the human world, 18 is considered adult-hood but you can only legally do things once you're over 21. And we can't get a "mortgage"- whatever that was- unless we were 22 or 23. And because Fang wasn't communicative, Max and Iggy were only 17, and Kate and her little group refused put their names on the deed or whatever it's called, Mom had to do it. And Mom was more of a people person than Fang or Max. Max gave off the "don't mess with me or I'll cut you vibe". And her Cardinal-ness didn't really work on humans. Otherwise if we were dealing with shifters, we'd have property all over the world.

"Yes, that kitchen was beautiful," Mom gushed, looking in awe. I looked in her mind and saw her dreamily admiring black marble counters and pale ash cabinets.

"I thought you'd love it," the realtor-lady said with a wink. I think her name was Amelia H-something.

"Could I get a price on this place?" Mom asked.

"The previous owners are putting it up for about $500-600,000," Amelia said, squinting her eyes and cocking her head to the side to judge Mom's reaction.

"That is a little pricey…" Mom demurred, looking at her hands.

"Of course, I'm sure we can work something out with the owners," Amelia pursed her lips.

_That won't be necessary_, I thought. I focused my mind into Amelia's and almost recoiled. It was a tangled mess of numbers and facts and money signs. Just what every six year old wants to see. I don't even know what you would call that number! Oh jeez… I focused on this house and saw the previous owner. A wealthy middle-aged couple who were moving to Arizona. They were dressed expensively the last time Amelia saw them and Amelia was jealous of the woman's dress. They didn't _need_ the money the house was going to bring them.

_Set up a meeting,_ I said into Mom's mind.

"Oh could you?" Mom asked, beaming, "Do you think we could all meet up and discuss this? I think it would be wonderful."

"Of course," Amelia smiled back, "I'll just give you a call after I've contacted them and we can probably have this all sorted by next week."

"Perfect."

* * *

"It's very nice to meet you Mrs. Hawk," the large man with a face like a beagle said, shaking Mom's hand, "And nice to meet you little lady. Angel, is it?"

"You're very pretty, aren't you? What's your name?" Mr. Beagle's wife said, bending her knees so her face was a little higher than mine. She smelled strongly of flowers and spices and wore a drape of heavy diamonds around her neck. Diamonds hung from her ears too. We had earrings back in the Realm too but smaller and plainer. I think hers are just plain showing-off.

"Thank you. I'm Olive," I said "shyly".

"Sit, sit, we have a lot to talk about," Mr. Beagle gestured to the seats. We were in a nice Manhattan restaurant named Jentin's. I saw Amelia there too, smiling at us from her seat.

"Of course," Mom says, smoothing her skirt before sitting. It was one of Nudge's designs, pale green and tight. I was wearing a pink dress Ella gave me. She said it made me look more innocent. And I'll need that for them to trust us enough to open their minds.

"Do you have other children, Mrs. Hawk?" Mr. Beagle asks.

"Yes, I have another daughter. She's 17 and you know how those teenagers are," Mom smiled conspiratorially and Mrs. Beagle nods furiously in agreement, "Anyways, she's off somewhere with her friends. I would've liked very much for you two to meet her."

"And is your husband with you?" This earned Mr. Beagle a swift kick in the shin from his wife. He muttered a quick apology.

"That's quite alright," Mom says. She's doing better. She didn't wince noticeably when daddy was brought up, "He's… away."

"The house has five bedrooms, Mrs. Hawk," Amelia reminded.

"Yes, of course. You see, my other daughter frequently has friends over and we need the extra space. And she's going to go to college in the fall here in Manhattan and it would be nice if we didn't need to pay for her dorms too. And," Mom dropped her voice, "There are some children that I don't want to be associating with her."

The three of them nodded across from us. Mom played the perfect part of an immaculate, caring, sensitive mother. Now it was my turn.

"And the cost of our previous home is too much?" Mrs. Beagle asks.

I roll my eyes internally. Of course, why else would we have this meeting?

"It is kind of pushing it," Mom hesitates and Mrs. Beagle nods for her to go on, "The house would be perfect but if I buy the house and send my daughter to college, it'll be too much and it's difficult to make ends meet in this recession." Recession was a word we picked up from the newspapers and Mom thought it would be a good word to add in our discussion.

"Yes, of course." Now Mr. Beagle was thinking. It was like watching gears move in a factory, churning out an idea. I just had to interfere with the movement and alter the idea slightly. Or drastically, you know. Mrs. Beagle was easier. She already likes mom and me. And plus, she had zero regards for money. She was born into a rich family.

"How about we just give you the house?" Mr. and Mrs. Beagle suggested. Amelia's jaw dropped to the floor.

Mom acted surprised. Well, maybe it wasn't all acting. I told her I'd just make them lower the price into our price range. In my defense, free is in our price range. And it wasn't like they weren't going to lower the price a lot anyways. I just made it go slightly lower. Or all the way down, "What!? Oh, I couldn't."

"But you can," Mrs. Beagle grinned, "It would be our pleasure. And we don't _need _the money anyways."

"Are you sure?" Amelia asks incredulously, "This is highly unusual."

"Oh we're sure," Mr. Beagle assured her, "The Hawk family seems nice enough. Aren't you sweetums?" he patted my head and I beamed.

Mom glared at me and I shrugged. I channeled "take the offer" with my eyes and eyebrows.

"If you're sure…" Amelia said dubiously. She opened the briefcase and pulled out some papers, crossing out some things and filling in others with her posh fountain pen, "Just sign here and here."

_Yes!_ I cheered mentally.

* * *

_Max_

Fang was happier with me ever since I told him he didn't need to try shifting anymore. And he's a lot nicer to me too. That's how I found myself pinned under him with his lips on my collarbone. My breathing grew heavier. I felt the hard dirt and stray branched prodding into my back but I couldn't focus too much on that. We were in the middle of a forest in the park where we were currently staying. And Fang's been so happy with me that he wanted to spend some "alone time". I would say I'm upset that all he ever wants to do is make out but I'm okay with it most of the time so I'm not going to kill him yet for "using me".

"Fang…" I breathed. It was turning into something more and if we didn't stop now I could wind up pregnant.

"Hmm?" he murmured against my skin. The sound vibrated into me, sending shivers down my spine.

"We have to stop," I curled my fingers into his hair, pulling his face up to mine. He looked at my lips, his usual dark eyes completely black.

"I don't want to," he said, putting his lips back on mine. I melted into the kiss for a second, his tongue delving in between my teeth, before I put my hands on his chest and pushed him off.

"My mom's going to be back soon," I reminded.

"So?" he replied huskily but he rolled onto the grass next to me, lying down on his back.

We just lay there, looking up at the trees above. His hand found mine and he drew tiny circles into my palm as both of us calmed down. It was silent but it was a comfortable silence.

"Max?" Fang asks after a while.

"Yeah, Fang?"

"How would you feel… about getting married?" he turned his face to look at me. My breath hitched.

"Not now, Fang," I said as nonchalantly as I could, "I'm 17."

"Okay, but someday?" he asked hopefully.

"Someday."

"Yoohoo! Max! Your mom's back! You two had better not be naked!" Kate called.

"But I wish we were," Fang whispered naughtily into my ear. I bit down a smile and got up.

"We're not, Kate, you can look now," I told her. She stood about two yards away from us with her hands covering her eyes.

Then Angel collided into me, knocking me back down on top of Fang. I heard the breath go out of Fang as I landed on him.

"Oww, Max, you're pretty heavy," Fang complained. I glared at him and Angel hopped off.

"Oops," she said, "But I have great news! We got the house! For free!"

"What?!"

* * *

_Holden_

Someone said that New York was the City of Dreams and that's true. New York is the best thing that's ever happened to me. Besides Star, that is. You know how hard it is to be a starfish? You live in a habitat full of other vicious animals who hunt the same stuff you do and can kill you. It was the best thing in the world to get away from the ocean. But still, I kind of miss it. You have to, you know? It doesn't matter how much you hate your home, you're still attached to it because you're born there and you're raised there. There are so many memories that are too hard to let go of.

Anyways, back to my love of New York.

Life is great ever since I got here. Besides the little mishap with Max being trapped in the Director's place, everything's perfect. I've got a great girlfriend, got a pretty nice job, and now we're moving into a great house free of charge.

What do I do for a living? Well, I'm a bartender. And even though I'm only 19, I can pass for 21, especially when my fake ID says I'm 22. I got the fake ID from JJ's friend Louis. Back when we were still staying with JJ, she made us all get jobs and we needed fake IDs to get them.

Back to bartending. It's a nice job, I get to talk to people (who are completely wasted so it's even more interesting), I can sneak some of my work back home, and it pays okay especially with the tips I get. People like me enough to actually tip me. Especially when I have to call someone to drag their ass home. I made friends with a lot of the regulars.

Kate likes to sing and after about a week of staying at JJ's, she got a gig at a club and had to learn tons of songs. That was the most stressed and busiest I've ever seen her. But recently, she started writing her own songs and she enjoyed that a lot more. And ever since she's been making money, she's been carrying those coffees or whatever they're called with her everywhere. I think it's safe to call it an addiction.

Ratchet is a bouncer and he works at the club Kate does. I think it's so he can't keep an eye on her (it's easy 'cause he can see really well far away). Kate's pretty enough and talented enough to attract a lot of attention and Ratchet's the jealous type. I can hear them arguing most nights about a guy flirting with her or a girl flirting with him.

Of course, I can't really judge because I hate Star's job. She's a dancer. Like an exotic dancer… She likes it. She likes attention, likes "dancing", and she likes how she's paid but honestly, did she have to get _that_ job? Star's gorgeous, any guy would want her and I'm afraid she'll meet someone better than me. Someone richer and more handsome. I can't even argue though because she's made it clear that she doesn't want them, but there's still a possibility. I don't worry that she's going to get hurt; she can take care of herself. That's an advantage of being a shifter, but I do worry that she's going to get tired of me.

Other than that, New York's been perfect. The house is huge and open with the only downside being that I have to share a room with Ratchet who snores like thunder. Valencia wouldn't let Star and I share a room or Kate and Ratchet, Fang and Max, or Iggy and Ella. The mother in her just wouldn't stand for that. Another thing she tried to make us do is send us to school. Valencia forced Max and them to go to school but Kate, Ratchet, Star and I refused. She didn't push it so it was good.

Life is good here. I don't ever want to have to leave.

* * *

_Brigid (dun dun dunnn)_

"Dr. Dwyer," Mr. Hausmann greeted me as I stepped into the meeting room. It was a large room about twenty or thirty feet long, flanked by glass windows on both sides and a projection screen on the far end. It was off and I was the only other person in the room.

"Very nice to meet you, sir," I stood and shook his hand. His hands were unnaturally cold. He gestured for me to sit and I did after smoothing down my gray pencil skirt.

"Can I get you a drink?" he asks, snapping his fingers. A small, petite blonde appeared in the room and set down a brown coffee mug before him.

"White wine, please," I say and he raises an eyebrow but nods to the girl. She scurries off, returning a minute later with a long stemmed glass. I muttered a thank you before she left.

"As you know, Mrs. Jansen had an unfortunate accident," Mr. Hausmann said.

Accident, my ass. I had one of my men sneak in and take pictures of the scene and she was her throat was slit before she was shot three times in the chest. But still I forced a sympathetic smile and nodded, "Yes, sir."

"We need another leader stationed in the Realm to replace her now," he gave me a sidelong glance as he lifted the coffee mug in front of him.

I took a sip of the wine. It was pretty strong for wine. Did he have her add something? Is he trying to drug me? I tried to focus on his statement and didn't know what to reply. I didn't have to because he continued, "I would like _you_ to take her place."

I almost choked on my drink, "What? But the shifters were a failed experiment. That's why we destroyed them."

"I understand," Mr. Hausmann answered. He was new, after Harold was killed. I suspect whoever killed Harold, killed Marian too. What would that mean for me if _I_ went there? Would the killer target me as well? "You won't be there long. We just need someone to wrap up the project. It would take about three months."

"What do you mean, wrap up the project?" I ask cautiously.

"There have been experiments that have escaped through the tunnel in the cave ecosystem. The one that was meant to be used only by our engineers to fix anything that was wrong in the biodome. However, there have been a number of experiments escaping. We can't have _those_ running wild in the human world," he paused, taking a slow sip from his mug, "Those must be destroyed. There's evidence of life still in the cave ecosystem and in the west. There's repairs to be done in the castle and after we tear down the ceiling and walls the palace and surrounding town can be sold to the highest bidder."

Oh, joy. But then I can see Marian's son again. I'm only 23 to his 18. My parents had a five year difference between them and he was cute. I tried opening my mouth to talk but I was hit with a wave of drowsiness.

"Oh, one more thing, Dr. Dwyer," he adds before my eye-lids shut, "You need to have some alterations done to be prepared in the Realm. I sincerely hope you don't mind."

I saw three men in white coats come in the room before everything went dark.


	36. Chapter 35

Chapter 35- The New Life

**Okay, you guys, I just uploaded my TMI fanfics last night. It's called Gifts and Curses and so if you guys could please check that out and tell me what you think it'd be great.**

**R&R?**

* * *

_Max_

"Wake up, Max," a soft voice whispered into my ear and I leaned back into my soft pool inflatable.

"Could you pass the smoothies?" I asked, crossing my legs but not opening my eyes.

"Max, wake up, we're going to be late," Angel said again.

"MAX! IT'S THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL AREN'T YOU EXCITED!" a loud shriek startled me awake.

I opened my eyes just in time to see Nudge pounce on me and Ella waiting by the door. "Oof!" I cried as Nudge landed on me.

She promptly hopped off, her brown curls bouncing. She looked like she was already ready to go to school. How long has she been up?

"It's seven o' clock, Max. There's only half an hour before we have to leave to catch the bus. Why aren't you awake? Oh, look, you're alarm clock isn't on. You must've forgotten. And you have to let Ella and I dress you for your first day. Fang and all the other boys are going to go crazy-" I cut her off with a sharp glare.

"I. Was. In. A. Pool! In. The. Carribean!" I growled at her and brushed my bangs back as I reluctantly got out of bed. Something smelled delicious.

"That sounds like a great dream!" Nudge says while looking through my closet and throwing clothes at me. Does she not realize that she woke me up from that?

She says something else but it's muffled by fabric in the closet. Ella lays out the clothes on my bed and I look over her shoulder in horror.

Pink. Aaaaall pink.

It was a pink shirt and white jean capris with pink lace on the back pockets, pink ballerina flats (where did we even get those) and a pair of pink earrings.

"NO no no no no! Absolutely not! I'm not wearing that!" I protest.

"Fine," Ella huffs and launches herself into the closet with Nudge and after many outfits later, I finally agreed on one with no pink, lace, ribbons, ruffles, and skirts. They let me wear a blue t-shirt that didn't show too much of my chest, jean shorts and strappy gold sandals. Seriously. Where did all these shoes come from?

Ella, Nudge and Angel clapped their hands in glee and Ella nodded to Angel who turned her big blue eyes to me. "What's going on?"

"IT'S MAKE UP TIME!" the exclaimed and I was about to struggle but then I felt Angel in my head and everything went black.

By the time I woke up again about ten minutes later, I found myself made up so that every miniscule blemish was hidden and my eyelids looked slightly smoky but pretty natural. My lips were sticky and I guessed they put some kind of lipstick on it.

"Can I not?" I groaned.

"You don't have time to get rid of it," Nudge reminded.

I was about to head downstairs for breakfast because by now my stomach was growling, but Fang pulled on my arm, "Hey, we're going to be late, where are you going?"

"What?" I exclaimed, outraged, "I haven't eaten yet!"

Then I saw Kate and her merry band of mutants sitting calmly at the kitchen table, "Hey! How come they don't have to hurry?"

"We're not going to school, Max," Kate told me passively, sipping a coffee from the Autumnal Star.

Mom stepped into the kitchen, wiping her hands on a rag before going to stove to check on the pancakes. "Yes, Max, now hurry up."

"But…food!" I wailed before being dragged out the door.

* * *

After collecting our schedules from the front office, I went to sit in homeroom and contemplate life's most inner workings. They decided to split all of us up so the only classes I had in common with Fang, Iggy, Nudge and Ella were Lunch, Art with Ella and Fang, and English with Iggy. Our school, Greenview Lincoln, had the middle school and high school combined so Nudge was with us. Gazzy and Angel went to the elementary school nearby. I hope they're doing well. I was still upset that Kate, Star, Holden and Ratchet didn't have to go to school but they did have jobs and since Mom didn't have any real hold over them (besides food and a place to stay), she didn't push the subject. Mom wanted Angel and I to go to school and because of that, Fang wanted to come with me to make sure I didn't get into any trouble, Iggy didn't want to be home all day, and Gazzy would be bored at home without Angel and Iggy so they all came too. Iggy and I were Juniors, Fang was a senior, and Ella was a sophomore.

Iggy and Ella were openly dating and they're probably going to get married the minute Ella turns eighteen and it's legal for her to. Actually, with a guardian's permission, they could probably get married but who knows. Ella wants to wait anyways and Iggy's getting pretty antsy about it.

All day, I heard girls talking about Fang and how hot he is. He is but still, I wanted to rip their throats out but I couldn't, or I'll get myself expelled. Don't we make it obvious that we're together? Is kissing or hugging every moment we can, not enough for these people? By the end of the day, Fang had his own little fan club full of girls who are convinced he's going to dump me and get together with one of them. I bite down a growl every time I hear another girl shrieking his name and how he glanced at them last hour or during lunch. HE'S MINE.

So when the day was over, I couldn't wait to get on the bus back home and talk to Fang about this.

That is until I heard he wasn't going to be coming home until later because he's trying out for basketball.

* * *

_Angel_

I love this place. Everyone loves me. And it's not because I forced them to with my mind... Okay, maybe I used mind control on some of the mean teachers but otherwise, I'm a perfect angel. *Insert eye batting here*

"Hi, Angel!" Tiffany called. Tiffany is my best friend in the whole world. Well, after Gazzy. Gazzy's my special friend. Tiffany's a girl so she's different.

"Hi, Tiffany!" I wave back.

She hands me a small pink invitation with balloons on it, "Would you like to come to my birthday party?"

"Sure!" I gush, taking the invitation. I've never been to a party before. I've been to celebrations back at the realm but never a party. This is going to be so fun.

She gives me a big smile and runs off to the next kid.

We were out for recess and I was swinging on the swings. I loved the swings, especially since Max didn't let us shift to fly anymore in the city unless it's at night and Mom's supervising.

_Angel_…_Angel, sweetie._ A voice breathed into my mind as if someone was whispering in my ear.

I whipped my head around to find the source. Then I spotted a man beside a car at the edge of the playground. He kind of looked like… Daddy?

_Angel, come here_. He thought.

I looked around and all the teachers are gone mysteriously. I run towards him. But as I get the gate open, he starts to look less and less like Daddy. He opens his arms and I cautiously back away. He smiles, wryly, secretively. Then a pair of burly arms wrap around me and a cloth is pressed to my face. I faint straight away.

* * *

_Fang_

"Hey, what's your name, new kid?" a blonde muscled guy a little bit shorter than I was asked.

"Fang," I say, impassively.

"Fang, huh? What's that, some sort of emo nickname?" he snickers, and gestures for people to watch.

I smirk, "Are you trying to start something?"

He got nose to nose with me, "I am."

I sensed his punch before he threw it; I grabbed his wrist and twisted it back towards him until he fell to the ground. He swung kicked at my legs but I jumped up onto the podium. The teacher wasn't here yet, thank god.

The crowd silenced is shock. I probably jumped higher than anyone they've ever seen besides star athletes. I got down quietly and moved to my desk.

"Hey," a taller brown-haired guy greets me.

"What?" I snap.

"How about joining the basketball team?" he offers, putting a hand out for me to shake, "I'm Drew Montgomery."

"Fang," I shake his hand and lean back into my chair.

"Tryouts are tonight, you should come."

"Okay," I relent. It might be fun. I'll ask Iggy to join us too.

"Cool, see you."

And suddenly I was admitted into the strange world of high school.

* * *

**So, what do you think is going to happen to Angel? Please leave a review down below and I'll try to update as soon as possible.**


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